A Fake Mask
by Dangerdude
Summary: Late in Ash's journey through Kalos, May pops up, claiming to get her Blazikens mega-stone. But that certainly isn't her only reason. Also she has some dark secret which she doesn't even want to share with Ash. What is her secret? What role will she play in Ash's life? Lover or Matchmaker? Read and find out! :D Advanceshipping & Amourshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**Chap 1:**

 **EDIT: 26/10/15; fixed some errors pointed by ASD Pokemon Fan (Thnx Bru)**

 **Hello fellow readers! Welcome to my first fanfiction. I've read many amazing stories of many great writers and thought of writing one myself ^^.There is one thing I want to tell you guys. English is not actually my mother tongue so the English used in the story, might not be up to the mark :\ Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the story and I would really appreciate a review. Without further ado let the story begin…**

 **The story takes place when Ash has won all eight of his Kalos Gym Badges.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I'm only gonna say this once. I doN't OWN Pokemon.**

* * *

The sun was on the western sky, slowly fading behind the horizon and the only sound filling the air was the sound of the busy Pidgey's and Fletchling's who were returning home after another long day of nonstop flying and gathering food. This beautiful sunset didn't go unnoticed by a small group of travelers, who were on the road to fulfill their dreams.

This small group consisted of four people. The first one was a boy, sixteen years of age. He had raven black hair, auburn eyes, a well built body, a stunningly handsome face and a heart made of gold. He was wearing a blue-white jacket along with black cargo pants. His hands were gloved and he had his trademark cap on his head. On his shoulder comfortably sat his long time partner and his best friend, Pikachu. The boy was none other than Ash Ketchum.

Walking just behind Ash was a childhood friend of his. Her name was Serena Yvonne. She had honey brown hair which almost reached her back. She was almost the same height as Ash. She had nicely curved body along with a beautiful face with beautiful blue eyes. She wore a pretty dress consisting mainly of the colors red and pink. She also had a red-black hat on. But the most notable feature of her dress was a beautiful blue ribbon, given to her by a special someone she adores.

The last two of the group both had blonde hair. Their names were Clemont and Bonnie. Clemont was the talented gym leader of Lumiose city and had an eye for inventing interesting things. Too bad they blow up without any proper reason. Bonnie was his sister who had her Dedenne, in her fanny bag.

As they were walking through a forest they enjoyed the beautiful red sun setting behind the trees. Well, most of them.

"How long till we get there? It's getting dark" whined the little blonde haired girl.

Between the dense forest, there wasn't a single person in sight. The only thing they could cast their eyes upon were trees, very big trees. They could occasionally see one or two forest Pokémon running here and there. But they knew where they were going thanks to Serena's trustee poke gear.

"Not too far Bonnie, it's just on the other side of the mountain" replied the beautiful girl with honey brown hair as she checked her map.

"I think we should set up camp for the night, after all we've been travelling all day..." suggested the blonde haired boy.

"I agree with Clemont. If we start tomorrow morning we'll reach Lumiose city by noon." Ash said.

'Pi pika Chu" his faithful companion added.

They did a little exploring around the forest. Before the night took over, they discovered an open area near a lake.

"This place seems okay. What do you guys think?"

"It's perfect." They replied in unison and smiled at each other.

"It's settled then. Ash, you and Serena setup the tent. I'll go make dinner and Bonnie, don't wander off." Clemont told while taking out his cooking materials from his trustee backpack.

"I'll try." Bonnie told with a mischievous grin.

"You got it" Ash replied as he and Serena started arranging their camping gear near the lake, a little away from where Clemont was cooking. The sun was down and the beautiful moon shined brightly in the sky, making the water of the lake give a silvery glow. Ash's eyes were gazing at the water. Everything was quiet until he decided to break the silence.

"Hey Serena?"

"Yes Ash?" Serena replied while her eyes were fixed on arranging the tent.

"Thank you".

Serena was a little taken back by those words as she immediately stopped her work and looked straight at Ash; a faint blush visible on her face. With an uncertain tone she asked,"What for?"

"Well..." Ash's eyes were still gazing into the silvery water as he replied, "For everything."

"Care to explain?" Serena asked as the eagerness was clearly visible in her voice.

"You see…" Ash began as he shifted his eyes from the water and smiled seeing Bonnie run after Pikachu and Dedenne in her typical manner.

"That day when I met you at the Santaloon gym…I found inspiration from you which I needed to win. Somehow seeing your face made me feel invincible." Ash said with one of his heart melting smiles.

"Whenever I was in a pinch, I thought about you. And you know, it always worked. You really are my good luck charm."

"I would also say that, it's because of you I won those eight Kalos league badges, and"

After a dramatic pause he said,

"I feel confident that I'll win the entire Kalos league as long as you are by my side."

... ... ...

Serena stood there dumbfounded. She couldn't believe she was hearing all these from the last person she'd expect to hear this from. But still, she absorbed all of those words with her heart.

"A-Ash I.." Serena stuttered as she felt a drop of mystery being formed in her eye."I never knew I meant that much to you…"

Ash just replied with a warm smile, the smile that she loved so much.

* * *

"The last plane to Kalos will depart in 30 minutes. All passengers concerned are requested to gather at the lobby. Thank you for travelling with Rustboro airways. We wish you a safe journey."

The announcement caught the attention of a certain sixteen year old brunette with sapphire eyes . Time has been kind to her as she now had a stunningly feminine body which could make any boy easily drool over at the very sight of her. She had a developed…well, too developed upper body. She wore a bright red T-shirt which almost reached her belly. It certainly helped in showing off her assets. She also had black skin tight jeans on. She didn't have a bandana now like she had when she was younger; she had sunglasses at the top of her head. All in all she was a sight any boy would dare not miss.

She was May Maple, the daughter of the famous gym leader Norman Maple and the top coordinator of the Hoenn region.

She was sitting in a sofa in the airport lobby playing with her brunette hair. Her luggage was safely placed beside her. She noticed the mass of people walking in the lobby. Some people almost squealed in joy when they recognized her. They started giving her random objects to get it signed. A guy even removed his shirt to get his chest signed. But May signed it. She didn't actually notice what she was signing as her mind was roaming somewhere else. She wouldn't even notice if a guy removed his pants to get his butt signed.

"It's been such a long time, I wonder how he's doing." The famous coordinator thought to herself.

 **Flashback**

It was under another sun setting sky where some friends were making their way towards the dock. They have had so much fun the last few days. They competed in the Wallace cup and learned so many new things, made new friends. But nothing good lasts forever as the time to say goodbye to one of their friends finally came. So they were having their final moments with each other.

"It feels like just yesterday, I can't believe I'm leaving Sinnoh already. Time really flies." May said to the blunette walking beside her.

"I guess. But I think there's something else." Dawn said with one of her sneaky smirks.

May raised an eyebrow,"what do you mean?" Dawn grinned.

"Face it May, You love Ash, don't you?"

"WHAT!" May suddenly screamed. This caught the attention of Ash, Brock and Zoey who were walking a little ahead of them.

"Everything alright guys?" Brock asked and Dawn nodded. "No need to worry Brock! Everything's just fine" Dawn said with a big smile.

So, they shrugged it off and resumed walking.

Dawn brought her mouth closer to May's ear. "So?"

May knew that there was no escaping from this girl, she sighed started in a whispering tone so that her words would only reach Dawn's ears. "Don't be silly Dawn. What is there to love him about? I mean he's unhygienic, he never cuts his hair and most importantly, he doesn't even know the meaning of love. Besides, I have someone waiting for me at Jhoto." May said in a matter of fact tone.

"Oh May…" This time Dawn sighed. "One day you'll find all of these traits of Ash very cute and you will learn who your heart really wants."

…

May increased her walking speed, clearly trying to ignore Dawns last statement. Soon she caught up to other three. She put her arms on Ash and Brock's shoulders. "I'm really going to miss you guys!"

"Same here May." Brock replied. "The Jhoto Grand festival is going to be very tough but this time I won't have you guys with me…" May replied in a sort of depressed tone.

"You'll do fine May. Even if I'm not there, you know I'll be cheering you on, we all will." Ash said with a reassuring smile.

This made her heart skip a beat. She had been in Jhoto for quite some time now. She travelled from town to town, explored caves and participated in contests like she did in Hoenn and Kanto but she knew she had been missing something. Her friends? Of course. But there was something else. She couldn't realize it before, but it was clear now. It was Ash's reassuring smiles. Now her mind wandered off to what Dawn said. But before she could go deep into her thoughts, she was interrupted when she felt Zoey's hand of her shoulder.

" You're a great coordinator May. You've even beat me. Now go back to Jhoto and knock em dead!" The girl with red hair said. May kept on walking with a smile dancing across her face.

But soon they found themselves standing in front of the ship.

May greeted her goodbyes to Dawn, Zoey and Brock as they made promises to meet again. For some reason May hugged Dawn really hard. But now, the only person left was… Ash.

May stood in front of Ash and gazed into his auburn eyes, "Best of luck for the Sinnoh League Ash." They both shook hands for the final time. Ash had a smile on, but the pain of saying goodbye clearly visible in his face.

"You too May, good luck with the rest of your Jhoto contests." "Pi Pika chu!" Pikachu also greeted.

"And May," Ash whispered, " make me proud…"

... ... ...

May closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to hold her tears as she nodded and boarded the ship to Jhoto. She didn't want to leave him but she realized that her dream repelled them from each other. Soon the ship started moving…

"Goodbye everybody! She leaned on the railing of the ship and waved her hands towards everyone standing at the dock. She was replied by the hands of everyone waving towards her. They were all sad but decided to give their friend a happy sendoff.

She kept waving her hands as she saw everyone's faces becoming smaller by the second. Zoey, Dawn, Brock and Ash… everyone were now, gone. She was alone…again. She silently walked between the people on the ship. After bumping into a few people along the way, she finally found her cabin. Her face was expressionless. After entering the room, she closed the door behind her. She leaned her back on the door and sat down folding her knees. She had her eyes closed as she took out her half Terracotta ribbon and brought it near her face. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the bright metal reflecting her face. May squeezed it tight and held it near her heart. Having nothing to hold back now, she let all her emotions run loose as the drops of tear fell from her beautiful sapphire eyes…

"I will Ash… I promise…"

 **End of Flashback**

"That was the last time I saw you" May thought with a sad smile. "But now I've made you proud Ash. Now, I'm finally a top coordinator." Then she noticed that the mass of people around her had disappeared.

She shrugged it off as she stood up from her sitting position and dragged her luggage along with her. "It's gonna be long trip to Kalos but…can't wait to see you again." She thought happily as she made her way towards the plane ignoring the perverted looks, the boys in the lobby were giving her.

"But I still can't believe that I left Ash to be with…Him."

* * *

The morning sun made its way up to the sky as the water of the lake now sparkled in a golden color. The Pokémon were coming out of their nests to enjoy the morning sun. The happy chirping of pidgeys worked as a wakeup call for some of the four friends. Serena looked like a zombie but it was nothing a daily morning routine couldn't fix. She came out if her tent and stood near the lake only to find that Ash was already standing there. Clemont was already up and was busy making breakfast and Bonnie was still deep in sleep.

Ash was stretching his limbs as he noticed Serena stand beside him. "Someone didn't have a good night, eh Serena?"

Serena yawned, "Yup...Didn't have moment of sleep and it's because of you."

"Hmm?"

... ... ...

She didn't notice what she was saying but after she did...

"No No it's nothing!" Serena quickly got out as she waved her palm in front of her face , getting a curios look from Ash.

"Let's go see what Clemont is doing." She said as sprinted in the opposite direction from where Ash was standing. As she started running, she didn't notice the wet slippery soil she was standing on. This resulted in only one thing. A girl with a short skirt falling, face first on the ground. Ash would have been rushing to check if she was alright, if not for what he saw...

"Crap. I have to be more careful." Serena thought but she soon felt a little more air touching the lower back side of her body. Still lying on the ground, she rubbed her nose and turned back only to see that, her skirt wasn't doing its usual duty of covering her lower body. She blinked and saw her small pink piece of garment, which usually stays under her skirt; hidden from the outside world, wasn't quite hidden anymore.

Having a wardrobe malfunction was bad enough, but to rub salt in the wound, she saw that Ash was staring awkwardly at it. It took her two seconds to understand what was happening.

... ... ...

"AAASSHH!" Though Bonnie didn't wake, that scream was enough to wake up all the flying Pokemon in the territory. "HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE!?"Serena demanded to know.

"I didn't see anything... I-I mean didn't mean to see anything." Ash's denial was short lived with the furious red eyes of Serena. He saw helplessly as the girl approached her with heavy steps. He kept on backing until he saw that he was standing at the edge of the lake. Shifting his eyes from Serena, he saw the clear lake water sparkling behind him. He only mumbled two words he found suitable to say in the situation. "Oh Crap."

Ash was almost shaking in fear. So he did the best thing he could do in the moment, close his eyes. But the last thing he saw was Serena grabbing a hold of his collar.

SPLASH

Ash opened his eyes. When his vision cleared he saw that he was surrounded by water. When he looked up, he saw a smirking Serena standing at the edge of the lake with a satisfied grin plastered on her face. Ash slightly shivered at the feeling of the cold water around him. But mentally he was feeling relieved, "At least that's over with."

"Guys! is everything alright!?" Clemont suddenly came. He was certainly startled by the sudden scream and the sudden splash.

"Don't worry Clemont. Everything is fine." Serena stated in neural voice. Clemont sighed in relief but suddenly noticed Ash floating on the lake.

"Ash? What are you doing? You'll catch a cold!" Ash sighed. "Don't ask anything Clemont, just don't ask."

... ... ...

The remainder of last night went pretty much normally for them except for a certain honey colored girl. She laid inside her tent and slept, well tried to sleep but didn't have any sort of luck. One question kept on running in her mind.

"Does he…feel the same way?"

Serena had a crush on Ash that she knew herself. Ash never showed any romantic feelings towards her but last night's conversation pretty much left her on her own bubble of thoughts. But, then again it was Ash. It might have been an honest 'thank you' from one friend to another. Who knows?

... ... ...

After a little while Bonnie got up. The group minus Clemont, (He had done it already) washed their faces and brushed their teeth. Then they sat down to help themselves to Clemont's excellent cooking. Clemont swore that his food tasted better as it was being served in nature. Ash was sneezing after that early morning 'experience'. But as usual, he ate the most which Serena, as always, found very cute. Between their eating they talked, made jokes about Clemont's inventions and enjoyed each others company. Ash and Serena forgot, tried to forget everything which happened prior to breakfast.

Soon after, they washed their dishes, packed their belongings and were ready to hit the road. Their destination: Lumiose City.

After lots of hard work and training, Ash finally won his eight Kalos league badges. However he still had three more months in his hands to train. Ash was now determined more than ever. But at the moment, they were on their way to Professor Sycamore's lab where he had something for Ash rewarding him for his hard work.

Sooner than they had expected, they were out of the forest. They would've gotten out sooner if they didn't have to wait for Ash's clothes to dry. The group was now very close to the mountain and just across it was Lumiose city.

Serena was still hesitating a little while talking to Ash. She was still feeling embarrassed . She looked at Ash who was walking at her right. As usual, he didn't have a care for the world. Serena frowned, "Look at him! Just this morning he saw at a girl's underwear and now he is acting like nothing happened." She quietly mumbled."Oh wait," she thought."When I get married to him, he'll see me naked everyday! So, it isn't a big deal!" She couldn't help but to blush furiously and prayed to Arceus that no one would notice it. Fortunately for her, nobody did. She sighed in relief.

At the moment they were passing through an open field as they enjoyed all the natural spectacles Kalos had to offer, which included seeing the wild Pokémon in their natural habitat and all of them interacting with each other. Of course Bonnie found all those very cute.

* * *

"We're finally here guys!" Ash stated somewhat proudly.

After walking for hours, they finally reached the entrance of Lumiose. Two certain siblings were more than delighted at the fact.

"Wow! It's been such a long time! I feel so nostalgic!" Clemont said and started looking all around.

"Yup!" Bonnie chimed in. "I wonder how dads doing!"

Lumiose is indeed the biggest city in Kalos. The city was filled with beautiful buildings, tons of shops and cafés. Not to mention the biggest attraction of Lumiose, the Prism tower. This place is nothing short of a paradise for any tourist. For this, the footpaths were filled with people and the streets were filled with lots of cars. This place was the definition of the word 'busy'.

Ash and Co. were walking by a street which led to the Pokémon center.

"Sure is nice to be back with civilization." Ash stated as he got approving nods from everyone.

"We've been in Lumiose couple of times before but we never really got to enjoy the place."

"Don't worry Serena, this time we'll explore Lumiose city for sure. Besides I can't wait to taste that Chocolate pastry I've been hearing so much about." Ash said with a sparkle in his eyes. He remembered the picture of the pastry he saw on the magazine and started drooling.

"Can't wait!" Ash pumped his fist in the air and continued walking, followed by Serena, Clemont and Bonnie.

Bonnie walked happily but suddenly got sidetracked at the sight of a clothes shop. Soon she noticed that she wasn't alone. The other female member of the group also stared, almost drooling at the sight of this year's new collection displayed through the glass window. Without wasting a single millisecond, they both entered the shop. The boys in the group had only one thing to do, wait.

* * *

"Wow! This dress is so cute!" Bonnie declared with sparkling eyes."Isn't it, Serena?"

But she found no response as Serena was busy exploring the shoes section of the shop.

"This one's cute. This one's not bad either but I think I'll buy the previous shoe. On second thought, the latter shoe will suit me better." The girl had a finger on her chin as she kept on going back and forth. But Serena's attention soon shifted when she saw something through the glass window of the shop; two girls starting a conversation with Ash and Clemont wasn't there.

Dresses and shoes, who cares? She had other priorities. She grabbed Bonnie's hands and stormed out of the shop. She let go of her hand and silently walked to a distance where she could eavesdrop on the conversation they were having. Bonnie noticed her brother looking at a science fair poster and decided to join him.

"Hey, aren't you like, Ash Ketchum from Kanto?" Asked a girl, pink haired and was wearing some extremely hot clothes.

"Yes I am. How can I help you?" Ash asked in his regular naïve tone…

"We're like, soo from Cerulean city in Kanto. I'm Amy and this is like, my sister Alice. The second girl replied who also didn't like the idea of having more than necessary clothing.

"Cerulean city, huh? Why doesn't that surprise me…" Ash thought sarcastically as he remembered the self-satisfied attitudes of the sisters of a certain gym leader.

"You stood in top sixteen in the Indigo league and won the Battle frontier. We're your biggest fans. You just have to be like, the greatest trainer in the planet!" Amy exclaimed.

"Standing top sixteen in the Indigo league makes you the best trainer in the planet, huh?" Ash again thought sarcastically inside, but outside, he said something else, "T-Thanks, I guess…" he stuttered sheepishly along an equally embarrassed Pikachu.

Amy started getting closer to Ash much to the annoyance of Serena. "You're like so totally cute! Will you go out with me?"

Alice also got closer to him, a little too close for his comfort. "No! Go out with me! I'm much sexier than her!" This earned her a glare from her sister.

"I have much bigger boobs." Amy posed her body which helped to show off her body. Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh please! Even a five year old could tell that those are fake things."

… … …

Amy's face was now red with anger as the two Kanto native started cat fighting on the middle of the footpath, getting strange looks from people. Ash didn't understand everything they were saying but stood there helplessly like a damsel in distress. To save him, came his knight in shiny armor.

Serena grabbed his hand and started running like there was no tomorrow. Bonnie and Clemont noticed that their friends were running. They didn't catch what was going on but decided to follow them anyway. While Serena was still running while holding Ash's hand, she mumbled some words which barely even reached her own hearing level…"Sorry bitches, but he's booked."

Moments later, the two girls found themselves standing there, short of one hot guy.

* * *

"What was that about!?" Clemont burst out still panting after that short sprint. They stopped under the shade of a tree by the street.

"Aaggh" Ash groaned. He removed his cap and ran his hand through his hair. Then he put it back on. "Well Serena just saved me from two girls who were **…** um, different."

"I don't think Different is the right word, Ash."

"Anyways thanks for that." Ash fixed his hat a little, closed his eyes and sighed, "Girls are just out of my league..." But when opened his eyes he saw the strange looks the female section of the group were giving him. "What'd I say?"

Serena put her hands on her hips and put on a teasing smile. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl too."

"Pi pika kapi chu…" Pikachu sighed at his trainers lack of brain in choosing right words.

"HEY! I AM ALSO A GIRL!" Bonnie whined.

"That's not what I meant to say. What I meant to say was, um, I mean… LAST ONE TO THE POKEMON CENTER IS A ROTTEN EXECUTE!" Ash didn't waste a second as he started running and made a mental note for not doing something this stupid in the near future.

"Hey no fair!" Bonnie humped as she soon started running behind Ash.

"He's so cute when gets nervous!" Serena thought as she also started running with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Not again…" Clemont panicked as he wasn't the biggest fan of running but seeing no other choice he again started running.

* * *

"A room for four please." told the raven haired boy who was all sweaty and panicking from his long race. Bonnie and Serena were also leaning on their knees and breathing looked around and recognized the place. They have been here a couple of times before. It was exactly how they remembered it. But the only difference is that, this time very few people were exactly staying there. Two middle aged men were sitting at the sofa and other than them, the only human there was Nurse Joy.

She was doing her paper works, sitting at the reception. But she looked up to see the sweaty and tired travelers."Certainly. Your name?" She asked sweetly.

"Ash Ketchum."

"Aash-ket-chum" Nurse Joy slowly said as she wrote Ash's name in the registration book. Ash was still bragging on his victory and Bonnie was complaining on the matter that Ash had cheated. Serena just looked at the two and gave a girlish giggle.

Meanwhile Nurse Joy took a key from the shelf near her desk and extended her hand with the key, snapping Ash out of his boasting.

"Here's your key."

Ash thanked the nurse and took the key and started walking to their room, until…

"Oh I almost forgot! Ash, someone who knows you just called half an hour ago."Ash turned back looked at the nurse as she continued."Just go to the phone booth and search the storage section. She left a video message for you."Nurse joy said as she pointed to her left.

"Her?" Did she tell her name?" Ash asked her as he noticed Clemont finally reaching the center.

"No, but she said that she was a friend."

"I see…" Ash said and looked at his right to see his friends standing. They were all looking like crap. He gave the key to Serena."Guys, take some rest, I'll be right back." he said as he started walking towards the video phone.

Serena took the key but had an uncertain look on her face. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a tug on her hand. It was Bonnie and her tired face gave her the message and she started walking to their room.

As instructed by nurse joy, Ash searched the storage section of the phone booth. There wasn't any other people there, so he found some privacy. He was thinking many things. These thoughts included - who the person was and how did she know he was in Lumiose. Ash saw that there was many video calls stored there. He accidentally selected a random video. Before he could cancel it a man's face appeared in the screen. The man made a romantic face and said, "Dear Joy, last night was the most eventful night of my life. Believe me Joy, my body is still shaking excitement. I can still feel my hands touching yo..." Ash almost smashed the 'cancel' button. He coughed slowly. Very strange people leave messages at the Pokemon center, right Pikachu?

"Pika Pi..." Pikachu sighed along his trainer.

"Pi Kipi ka Chu" Pikachu said, but Ash didn't bother to translate it. Because if he did, it would translate to something like...

"Naughty,Naughty Joy."

But this time without any mistake, he selected the first message on the list. When he pressed the button, the video started playing. He was looking at the screen with a regular face, but his eyes got big seeing the beautiful face which appeared on the screen.

"Hello Ash! Remember me?" a sweet voice came from the video.

Ash blinked a couple of times to recognize the face in front of him. But it didn't take him more than two seconds to make out who it was.

"May!?"

* * *

 **And that was the first chapter guys. One last thing I wanted to tell you guys.. An author writes for fun, yes. But he also stays eager to know what his readers thought of his story. So, if I don't get any feedback, well, there will be no reason for me write. So be sure to leave a review.**

 **See ya!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chap: 2**

 **Hello again people. Welcome to the second chapter of A Fake Mask. A bottomless sea of Thanks for the reviews. You guys won't believe how much they meant to me. :')**

 **This chapter is sort of a filler chapter. But the story will progress and the good parts will be revealed.**

 **NOTE: This story had been written when only 75 episodes of the XY anime were aired. Since this story is set in the time when Ash has all his eight GYM badges, I will fill up Ash's team with Pokémon which I prefer. Also if anything in this story becomes canon, well, just don't stick a copyright flag. :P (If there is one ) :D**

 **So, Read, Enjoy and Review!**

* * *

"My hair's a mess!" Cried the youngest member of the group.

The trio which consisted of Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were sitting on their beds in their Pokémon center room. Ash was still busy talking with some mysterious girl (According to Serena anyway). Serena was quietly sitting on one of the Pokémon Center beds and as usual, she was thinking about Ash. The room was quite big. It had off-white colored walls. There wasn't anything in the room that was worth talking about. Just four beds, a balcony and a bathroom. Exactly what a Pokémon Center room should look like.

"You should have known better than to nuzzle with Dedenne." Clemont said in a matter of fact tone as he looked at Bonnies electrocuted sparkling spiky hair.

"I don't care!" Bonnie screamed as Clemont sighed. "Fix it now!"

"De dene na…" the orange little fairy rodent said in an apologetic tone. He completely didn't get what he did wrong but he understood that, he did something which his friend Bonnie didn't like.

Serena snapped out of her thoughts with Bonnies non-stop whining. She dug through her bag and found her trustee hairbrush. Then she sat beside Bonnie. "Here, let me try."

But even her brush couldn't break through the strong resistance the hair had put up. Finding no other way, she also gave up. "Sorry, but it's not working."

"He he he…" I thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one."Clemont suddenly told while fixing his glasses. "The future is now thanks to science!"

Dramatic pause

"Clemontic gear ON! Introducing the 'fix any hair mark - 3'."

Bringing the machine out of his bag, he displayed it to everyone. The machine was certainly big enough for anyone's head to fit in. It had a strange tube behind it. Also lights of different colors shining on its body.

"This machine releases a radioactive therapy which can straighten any hair." Clemont said in a proud tone.

"Wow science is so amazing!" Bonnie suddenly burst out with sparkling eyes, mimicking Ash.

"But the name still needs work." This time she was acting like her usual self.

Clemont and Serena looked at each other before they both burst out with laughter. Seeing them, Bonnie also gave a cheeky smile.

"Let's give it a try, shall we? Clemont the put the machine over the head of a nervous Bonnie and hoping for the best, he pressed the button.

The machine started shaking, slowly at first but as seconds passed its shaking speed started to increase. To make matters worse, there was even black smoke coming through the tube behind it. Both Serena and Clemont had terrified looks on their faces. Serena ran to the window and opened it, causing all the smoke clear.

Soon, the machine stopped shaking. Clemont walked with nervous steps towards the machine. Bonnie was also unexpectedly quiet. He got the feeling that something was wrong. He removed the machine just to find his sisters grinning face.

Much to everyone's surprise and relief, the machine actually worked. Bonnie's hair was as good as new.

"It worked!" Bonnie happily cried out. Dedenne also jumped in happiness but Bonnie humped and looked the other way. This caused the rodent to look down in sadness.

"What did you expect?" said a smirking Clemont. "I-I didn't have a moment of d-doubt" He laughed nervously. Bonnie rolled her eyes, "So… why is your voice shaking?"

"Ehem." Clemont coughed and tried to ignore Bonnie's last question. But hearing her loud laughing, Clemont couldn't help but to laugh.

"Maybe next time you should invent a 'Make Ash Love Serena Mark something'". Serena mumbled under her breathe and chuckled to herself.

"Did you say something Serena?"

"No Clemont…Nothing at all…"

... ... ...

"Hey guys! "Suddenly the door of the room opened as a certain raven haired boy entered the room. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing much, it's just that one of Clemont's inventions actually worked."

Ash's eyes started sparkling, followed by Pikachu's sparkling eyes.

"Wow science is so amazing!"/ "Pika Pi"- was the united squeal of a master and his pokemon.

"Yup we get that part, don't we?" Bonnie winked as Clemont and Serena started laughing.

Ash just gave a confused look but shrugged it off. "Pi Pika Pi" Pikachu stated as he also shrugged it off.

"So, shall we go?"

"Go where exactly?" Ash put down his bags, adjusted his cap and said, "Flare Café of course. Chocolate pastries, remember? My treat!"

Ash didn't need to say any more as he felt his hands being pulled and without any delay, they found himself in front of Flare Café. They all looked in awe at the entrance of the café.

"Looks awesome from the outside." Clemont stated." What do you guys think?"

But he found no response and glanced to his left only to see that his friends were drooling at the poster of the café's special chocolate pastry.

"Real mature guys." Clemont sighed and pulled his friends and made his way inside. To say that the café was fancy in the inside would be an understatement. The place was dimly lit with red lights followed by a romantic music. The windows were covered with red curtains. This time, even Clemont couldn't help but stare with sparkling eyes at the fantastic exhibition in front of his eyes.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea if I came here with Ash on a date some day." Serena thought with a grin and as she looked at Ash.

A waiter helped them to find a table for four. Ash took a seat and Serena immediately took the seat right next to him. She has really grown a weird type of fetish towards Ash. Ash (as expected) doesn't have the brain to notice anything. The siblings, on the other hand, even though they noticed, never thought deeply regarding the matter. So, Clemont and Bonnie took empty seats they found on the opposite side of where the other two were sitting.

"May I have you're orders, sir?" The middle aged waiter with squinted eyes and French mustache asked. He wore a red shirt and black pants. He also had a black bow tied around his neck; suitable uniform for the waiter of a five star café.

"Four of your finest chocolate pastries and a bottle of ketchup, please." Ash said as the waiter gave him a strange look. But then he nodded. "Certainly."

As the waiter left the place, Serena looked around. She found that the place was packed with mainly people who had very heavy wallets. She whispered something to Ash which sounded like, "Ash, are you sure you have the money?"

"Don't worry Serena. Winning the eight Gym's in Kalos isn't actually that cheap." Ash winked. Serena blushed a little, but then sighed in relief.

"So Ash, back at the PC, who were you talking to?" Bonnie asked which got Serena tensed up.

Ash put his cap down on the table. Pikachu also sat comfortably at the table.

"A very good and old friend of mine." This got the group interested as Ash continued."I travelled with her, her brother Max and another friend of mine named Brock throughout Hoenn and Kanto. Her name is May and guess what? She'll be visiting Lumiose city tomorrow morning."

"Your old friend, huh? So how'd you guys meet?" Clemont asked clearly interested about knowing a little about Ash's past.

"Well…" Ash began as he petted Pikachu behind his ears earning him a happy coo in return."It started when Pikachu and I were on our way to Hoenn. Team Rocket captured Pikachu and exposed him near a magnetic field. It made electricity build inside Pikachu which made him really sick."

Pikachu shivered at the memory. "I took Pikachu to Professor Birch; the local Pokémon professor of Hoenn. But as he tried to heal Pikachu, his electricity destroyed the lab and he ran off."

"I tried to find Pikachu and saw that he was falling off a cliff. I didn't think twice as I also jumped after him."

Hearing that, Serena and Bonnie covered their mouth in agony as Clemont remembered the event taking place on top of Prism tower.

"But just as I made the jump and caught Pikachu, I was saved by the professor and also another girl who helped in pulling me up. That's when I first met her." Ash said with a smile.

"Team Rocket again made their move, but this time their new machine sucked up all the excess electricity stored in Pikachu and accidentally healed him and…you know the rest. " Ash said with a smile.

"Wow!" was the only word they said. During the heated conversation, they didn't notice their pastry being put down on the table along with the bottle of ketchup. But when they did, they had huge grin on their faces.

As expected, the pastry was filled with rich chocolate with a red cherry decorated on top. "Bon Apatite!" The waiter said as he was a little taken back by the happy squeal of his customers.

Pikachu's happiness after seeing the ketchup bottle couldn't be put into words. He happily opened the mouth of the bottle and licked away. Now the waiter understood the purpose of the ketchup bottle. He petted Pikachu on top of his head, gave a smile and went back to his work. Dedenne was sleeping peacefully in Bonnie's fanny bag.

"So what happened next?" Serena asked, taking a bite from her pastry.

Ash took a bite from his own pastry and started, "I got to know that Pikachu accidentally burnt May's bike. So she insisted on travelling with me. I later found out that her father was a gym leader." Ash remembered his battle with Norman. He really respected him for some reason.

"At first she didn't like Pokémon. But then, throughout our journey I showed her how much fun it was to travel with Pokémon. From there it began, we had lots of fun together, faced death in the eye and made many friends together. And before we know it, we were good friends. She later found out what she wanted to be; A top Coordinator. She practiced day and night. But her rivals were always better than her. So, she had very little confidence in herself. But as the day passed, she became stronger and stronger. Then, when she participated in the Kanto Grand Festival, she finally managed to defeat her biggest rival, Drew. We were really proud at her that day.

Soon after our journey together through Hoenn and Kanto, we parted ways. She went to Jhoto and I went to Sinnoh. And now, here she is, Top Coordinator of Hoenn for straight two years." Ash stated proudly.

"What's a coordinator?" Clemont and Serena asked as Ash sweat dropped. But soon he realized that, Contests aren't something the people of Kalos are interested in.

"I'll tell you!" Bonnie exclaimed. "It's actually a lot like being a performer. You have to participate in Pokémon contests where in the first round you show off your Pokémon's beauty and elegance and in the second round you have to battle your opponent within time limit and with grace. Once you win you will get a ribbon and with five ribbons, you can compete in the grand festival. When you win the Grand Festival, you earn the prestigious title of top coordinator. See? A lot like Pokémon showcases." Ash nodded.

"Wow Bonnie, where'd you learn that?" asked a surprised Clemont.

"I read it at a magazine" Bonnie stated proudly."Now that I think of it… Oh I remember now!" Bonnie hastily pulled out a magazine from her fanny bag being careful not to wake up the rodent sleeping there." I knew the name May sounded familiar! Look!" She then put the magazine in the table for everyone to see.

The cover of the magazine showed a beautiful brunette posing with her Altaria with the headline saying, 'Princess of Hoenn holds her title for top coordinator.'

"Wow she is beautiful…" Clemont said as he cleaned up some drool from the corner of his mouth which earned him a death glare from Serena.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Serena had to say that May didn't look anything less than a princess. She actually felt jealous when her eye spotted two certain body parts of the famous princess.

"Yup, that's her alright!" Ash again stated proudly. Of course he couldn't detect the amount of beauty being radiated just from her picture…

But the one thing, none of them noticed was the article written in the next page. 'The Lost Coordinator.'

... ... ...

Suddenly Bonnie gave an evil smirk. Seeing it, Clemont shivered, he knew Bonnie was gonna say something strange…

"Hey Ash, how come you've never told us about your girlfriend before?"

Awkward silence

That single question brought out different frequencies of emotions from the teens. The boy's eyes got big, the girl's eyes got bigger and the last one just became embarrassed at his sister's question. He knew this was coming...

Pikachu kept on licking his ketchup bottle without a care for the world.

Ash began to say something but he was stopped in his tracks when he heard a sudden scream,

"Nooo! It can't be!"

Ash blinked and looked at his side, "uh Serena, what can't be?"

Serena noticed that the rich people were looking at her with an annoyed expression. They didn't like loud noises. But soon they minded their own business continued doing what they were busy at. But three eyes around her weren't the ones to give up, as they kept on looking at the girl with eyes which demanded answers. Serena blushed with embarrassment. But she needed to find an excuse…and fast.

She couldn't stand the reality of Ash having a girlfriend so she shouted. But she certainly couldn't give that answer to the answer hungry eyes. She did the thing any other ordinary person would do in this situation; stutter the first thing that hit her head.

"I forgot to…um, that's right, I forgot to take my shower." Serena got out and smiled sheepishly.

The group minus Serena sweat dropped and fell from their chair, Anime-style.

Ash already had his shower due to a certain situation early in the morning. And taking the shower was the first thing the siblings did when they entered the Pokémon Center room. But Serena didn't get the chance to take her shower. So, that excuse was…believable, to say the very least…

However, two certain boys didn't find that sudden outburst so…natural. Many different thoughts came to their minds.

But Bonnie's next statement snapped them back to reality."By the way Ash, you never answered my question." That teasing smile never left her face.

Ash gave an annoyed look and said, "Look, she is a girl, she's a friend but she's not my girlfriend." Bonnie looked disappointed, but Clemont's glare made her giggle.

Serena still couldn't get over the embarrassing situation but sighed in relief. Though not fully convinced, she knew that Ash wouldn't lie on a matter like that, would he? Serena again went deep into her thoughts…

"Then I think I found my brother a keeper." The youngest blonde of the group thought with yet another evil grin.

* * *

"Mmm…I can still feel the chocolate in my mouth." Bonnie stated, to which everyone nodded. They just had their most wonderful pastry eating experience and were now standing in front of the café, planning their day. Ash's wallet just had a shocking experience. Who knew four pastries would cost so much…

When they were leaving, the waiter gave an extra bottle of ketchup to Pikachu as a gift. Seriously, who wouldn't like the scene of a Pikachu licking a ketchup bottle?

" So what are you guys planning to do now? Bonnie and I are going to visit our dad."

" I think I'm going to do some training. Greninja still needs to perfect Dark pulse." The raven haired trainer stated.

Serena looked at her poke gear. It showed that it was 3 PM. "I'm going to take my shower now."She said in a depressed voice. Ash stared at her."Is everything alright Serena?

"Don't worry, Ash. Everything's fine." Serena put on a fake smile, trying to sound happy.

"But her little 'act' was easily caught by Ash but he didn't say anything at the moment. They started walking, Bonnie and a depressed Serena at the front, followed by Ash and Clemont, who were walking behind them.

"Serena is looking awfully depressed, don't you think Ash?" Clemont said slowly so that only the boy walking beside him could hear it.

"It looks like it. She's been like this since Bonnie asked me about May being my … you know." Ash said to Clemont while looking at Serena. Bonnie tried to cheer her up, but to no avail.

"Hey Ash, do you have any clue why she's been acting like that?" Though he asked, Clemont understood clearly why Serena's been like this. One didn't need to be rocket scientist to notice Serena's fondness towards Ash. Serena's pattern of behavior meant only one thing. She was in love with the boy.

"Actually I do." Ash responded with a serious tone which shocked Clemont a great deal. "Nono no… I must be having hearing problems." Clemont mumbled under his breath."Sorry Ash, could you repeat that again?"

Ash groaned in annoyance."I KNow why she's been behaving like this."

Clemont couldn't believe his ears. Had Ash finally understood the meaning of love? It took a while, but better late than ever. Clemont leaned closer to Ash. "What have you figured out?"

"That That.." Ash clenched his fists, Clemont also got excited.

"That...Serena…"

"Yes Ash. Serena…?" Clemont was also really eager but remembered to keep his voice in check so that the girls couldn't hear anything.

"Serena's on her PERIOD!" Ash got out and gave another proud smile, feeling like Sherlock Holmes.

… … …

Clemont stood there and couldn't find the right words to say. Then he again started walking but didn't say a thing. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he thought of saying something,

"Um...Ash, I hope I'm not offending you, but do you ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT PERIOD IS!?"

The raven haired boy scratched his chin. "Now that I think of it, I don't. But I did hear that when it happens to anyone, they behave strangely."

Clemont face palmed. He realized one thing he should've understood years ago. The word 'love' has no existence in Ash's brain.

But little did they know, the girl with honey brown hair listened to every single word the boys exchanged between their short walk. But Serena didn't mind. That was only expected of Ash. Instead, that conversation cheered her up.

"As expected, this boy doesn't have the slightest clue about my feelings towards him. Oh well, what good is a victory without a good challenge?" Serena giggled to herself.

Soon, they came to the point where they had to part ways. Serena and Ash went right to the Pokémon Center and the siblings went left to their house.

"Okay guys, we'll meet you at the Pokémon Center at 6 PM. Bye for now." Clemont said. Bonnie was standing behind him. "Bye guys, I-I'll miss you…" Bonnie faked some tears.

The teens looked at each other and burst out in laughter. Bonnie also giggled childishly. Seeing Serena laugh, the boys felt relieved and made a mental note to thank Bonnie later.

"Bye you guys, see you later. Say hello to your dad for us!"

Clemont and Bonnie waved back at their friends.

As he was waving, a certain blonde haired boy had something on his mind. "Serena looks happy, that's a relief. It's good that she didn't hear what Ash said."

He had no idea how wrong he was…

* * *

At one side of town, two siblings with blonde hair could be seen walking. The younger blonde had a cheery smile as she fed some Pokémon food to her Dedenne, who was happily enjoying his free transportation in her bag. Bonnie could never stay mad at Dedenne, even after what happened back at the Pokémon center. She looked to her right and found her brother in an extremely thoughtful stance.

"Everything okay, Clemont?"

No response

"CLEMONT!" the last outburst took the boy by surprise as he looked at his sister who had a curious look in her face.

"S-sorry, I was just thinking a bit. That's all."

"About Ash and Serena, right?" Clemont was caught off guard as he stuttered, "N-no no…why would be I thinking of them? That's silly!" Clemont faked a laugh.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "C'mon Clemont, the author of the story didn't make me as dumb as they made Ash. You know that right?" Clemont blinked. "S-sure."

"Bonnie continued, "Serena is deep in love with Ash. But Ash doesn't realize it. But I don't worry a bit. Because, if there is anyone who can do it, it's Serena. The little blonde finished with a smile.

Clemont put a hand on Bonnie's head. "Wow, you've grown up, haven't you? And you're right. I really have no need to worry. But still…"

"Clemont! Bonnie!" The siblings noticed someone calling their name. They noticed that it was their dad, Meyer. "Over here!"

Between the walking and the thinking, Clemont almost accidentally passed his own house. His father ran up to them and took his children into a big hug.

"How've you been darlings?"

"Very good Daddy!" Bonnie replied. The children were obviously very happy to see their father. "Too bad I couldn't find Clemont a girlfriend, yet." Bonnie said with another trademark evil grin. Clemont, as usual glared at her sister to which Bonnie, didn't give a shit.

"Don't worry dear. I believe in you. I'm sure you'll find Clemont a girl, eventually." Meyer winked at her daughter. Clemont only groaned in annoyance. "Not you too…"

The dad and daughter laughed a little, and then entered the house together.

* * *

On the other side of town, walked two teens. They were walking side by side and enjoying each other's company. Ash kept on rambling about some new battle strategy while Serena kept on looking at him with dreamy eyes, 18+ thoughts dancing in her sixteen year old mind.

Some girls walking in the streets, winked at Ash.

You don't see such a hot guy walking around, everyday. Something about this guy made the girls want to talk to him and to know him better. He was almost like a lady-magnet of some sort; something which Brock would've envied.

Whenever girls think of taking a wrong approach towards Ash, well let's just say, they don't become much successful because of the Honey brown haired girl who Ash has his personal…bodyguard. Her pretty face can fool anyone but when she's pissed, the look on her eyes can rip through a person's soul.

So it can be safe to assume that, the girls who were winking at Ash weren't void of a scary experience...

The two teens took left and right turns at the end of every road until they spotted the building with the red roof.

* * *

"So Clemont, how are your friends doing?" Meyer asked while he was sitting in the living room, taking a sip from his coffee. "Where are they, by the way?"

"They're in the Pokémon center. We have to meet them at 6 PM." Clemont said in a bored tone.

"I see…" His father said. "Have you been taking care of you sister?"

"Of course, dad. It's my top priority." Clemont said but he then started to think about something.

Bonnie wasn't there. She ran to the gym to see Clembot and all the other Pokémon in the gym. . She's so hyperactive that she couldn't even have a sit to have a chat with her dad. Not that Clemont was looking forward to it anyway…

They both loved their dad, but never had the patience to sit and chat with him.

"Hey dad?" Clemont decided that it was best to share his thoughts with his dad. "I need something advice."

Meyer took another sip from his coffee and leaned forward, clearly interested. "Sure son. About what?"

"About Ash and Serena." Clemont stated. His father nodded. "I'm listening."

* * *

Serena closed the door to their Pokémon center room, grabbed a fresh set of clothing and made her way towards the Bathroom.

She and Ash parted ways in front of the Pokémon center gate where Ash went to the Training ground and Serena decided to take her shower. They would meet again at 6 PM.

She closed the bathroom door. She wasn't displeased with the way bathroom looked. It was pretty fancy, to say the least.

Serena removed everything from her body to the point when she didn't even have a single thread in her body. She turned on the water and leaned against a wall; her hair covering her eyes. She was trying to sink in everything which happened the whole day.

"Oh Ash…" Serena quietly mumbled as she felt drops of water sliding down her hair onto her bare back and to other places where no foreign hand could dare touch…

"I really like you; I can't imagine my life without you and I want to stay with you forever, but…" She took a deep breath and continued on her phase of mental negotiation. "How do I tell you…" Serena wrapped her arms around her bare chest.

"I still remember Miette telling me to confess my feelings, but what if…what if it ruins our friendship."

She removed the hair from her face and looked at her unclear reflection in the foggy bathroom mirror. She wiped the mirror with her hand which revealed the reflection of her face. This time it was much a clearer image. Serena just sighed.

* * *

Meyer scratched his beard as he listened to everything his son had to say. This was more complicating than fixing machines. (According to him, that is)

"What do you think I should do dad?"

His dad put his coffee mug on the table in front where he was sitting. He closed his eyes to think a little. Then he asked, "Clemont, do you like Serena? Be honest."

Clemont sat in the chair, completely dumbfounded. "Dad, DO I LOOK LIKE I'M IN THE MOOD TO JOKE AROUND NOW!"

Meyer put up his hand defensively and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry son, just wanted to make sure."

Clemont sighed, why he even think of asking his dad…Sheesh.

"Ehm. Clemont," His father started as he listened halfheartedly. "You love your friends, don't you?"

Clemont got a bit startled by his father's serious voice. "Yes I do."

"Good. Then you should do exactly what makes your friends happy. If you think keeping Serena away from Ash is the better option, then you shouldn't hesitate."

Clemont frowned. Will this be the best choice…he started thinking. Then his father cleared his voice and continued, "If you think, making Ash and Serena love each other is the better option, then, you should help Ash understand what Serena feels for her. It's your choice really. After all, you know your friends better than I do…"

This got Clemont truly thinking. "Doing what I think is best, huh..."

… …. ….

After some time Bonnie returned. They spend some quality father-son-daughter time together. After some time Clemont looked at his watch, only to see that that clock showed that it was already 5:37 PM.

Meyer hugged his children one last time before letting them go. He felt really proud inside. His children were really growing up. He cleared the manly tears from his eyes and noticed that his children were waving at him. He put on a smile and waved back.

"Good luck, Clemont!" He paused, then again shouted "And Bonnie! FIND YOUR BROTHER THE BEST GIRLFRIEND THERE IS!"

His children, one sweat dropped and the other giggled as they waved goodbye to their father.

* * *

A raven haired boy stood at the Training ground. He looked around his surroundings. The ground was certainly big. In fact, it was bigger than any other regular Pokémon center training ground. The ground was surrounded with trees. Some of the branches even had ring targets attached to them. He turned around his cap, grabbed a Pokeball and threw it high in the air. "Greninja I choose you!"

… … …

"Greninja! Dark Pulse!" An absent minded Ash shouted pointing towards one of the ring targets.

The blue-ninja-frog Pokémon faithfully nodded as Purple-Dark energy started to form between his hands. When he had stored enough, he released the attack. However the dark pulse attack wasn't quite interested in hitting the target. But when released the attack, the body of the Pokémon gave a blackish glow.

"Er Nin Ja" The Pokémon bowed down in front of his master, clearly showing that it was sorry.

This was indeed the same water type which helped Ash in defeating Team Rocket way back when Ash first came to Kalos. He was now a menacing fully evolved, Greninja. His speed was second to none as he also had the hidden ability 'Protean." When a Pokémon with this ability uses a move, its type changes into the type of move he just used. In other words, if Greninja uses a ice type move, then its type will change into ice type from its original Water/Dark typing.

"Don't worry buddy." Ash scratched the back of his head and gave a goofy smile. "I wasn't concentrating, so I can't expect you to concentrate either."

"Pi Pika Pi?" The rodent on his shoulder asked with the hint of concern in its voice.

"Don't worry, it's nothing important. It's just that, the way Serena acted back at the café. Something tells me that there was some other reason behind her sudden outburst.

Pikachu had a blank look in his face. He still couldn't believe that he was hearing something like this from Ash. Then, maintaining a regular cute face, he said,

"Pi Kapi Chu Pika."

"Wow! You thought so too huh? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Chu Ka Chu Pi…"

"What! What do you mean I wouldn't understand! What do you think I am? Some sort of naïve retard?" Ash's face was now red with anger.

But Pikachu and Greninja looked at each other for a second and started rolling in the ground with laughter. Ash didn't know how true he was…

But one thing is for certain, Ash couldn't stay mad at his Pokémon. He also smiled with them and looked at the evening sky. "Hmmm… then wHy did she behave like that?" Ash felt a tingling feeling in his heart. This feeling was foreign, something which he never felt before. His heart was pounding hard…with anxiety?

He put one hand on Greninja's forehead and the other on his own. Then, he came to one conclusion,

"Maybe I'm on my period…"

* * *

 **There you go guys, the second chapter is over. I really hope you guys enjoyed it. Well, there is a thing on which I need your opinion,**

 **If you've read my profile, you'll know that I do a lot of competitive Pokémon battling. So, In competitive battling, there are some things which every Pokémon fan might not know about. Like, Greninja's 'protean 'ability.**

 **If I use competitive battling references in the upcoming Pokémon Battles, I will be sure to explain everything during the story. But if you guys still feel hesitant regarding the matter, I will exclude any competitive stuff. So yeah, I need your opinion.**

 **Also, I have a huge exam coming in the next month. I have to do a Shit Load of studying. So I won't have the time to upload anytime before 20** **th** **October. :( Sorry…**

 **Also, one last thing,**

 **Leave a REVIEW… or I'll kill you. :)**

 **See Ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chap 3:**

 **I'm Baaaack!**

 **After two shitty weeks of exam I'm back with the third chapter guys.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. Keep on doing that!**

 **Also, I felt that I should explain the age of the characters of my story, it is very important after all. Why I didn't do it in the first chapter?... Meh, I'm Lazy :3**

 **So, Ash, May, Serena and Clemont are all 16 years old. Bonnie and Max are 11 years old. (No. They wont be a couple!). Just saying his age for future reference. The characters have aged. Ash is a dumb-ass, no changing that. But the other characters of the story will have some additional traits included in their character. But I'll try not to make them too OOC.**

 **So, all that is left to say is, read the story, have fun and review!**

* * *

"Where is she!?" A certain raven haired boy exclaimed. He has been standing at the Lumiose airport, doing nothing other than waiting for the last half an hour. He was feeling a little tired and worried at the same time.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. That startled his as he looked back and found that it belonged to Clemont. His smiling face motioned him to calm down.

The morning was hot and sunny, hotter than the average temperature in Kalos. The morning almost felt like a typical day in the tropical Hoenn region. It was as if, the morning weather was ready to welcome the famous Hoenn native.

Ash's restless eyes were searching left and right. He could see all sorts of people around him, but not the one he was looking for.

Clemont, Bonnie and Serena were standing behind him. They were all eager to meet Ash's old friend, who could be also addressed as a celebrity.

Serena had her doubts, but decided to place her bet on the fact that May was only Ash's friend, nothing more.

Between the huge crowds of people, one could see a girl with a cute green hat and red hair walking. She was almost a head taller than Ash and had a decent looking face. She looked the type of girl that could be categorized by the word Sexy, not gorgeous.

While she was walking, she noticed Ash. She immediately stopped walking and stared at him; two small hearts replacing her eyes.

At one moment the eyes of a restless Ash met with hers. She took the opportunity and winked at him. Ash was a bit surprised, but decided it to look at a different direction. The girl frowned a little but again winked at him.

But she still found no response...

This time she let out a long series of Winks. Ash had enough. He was getting tired of those distracting winks. So he decided to go and see what the girls' problem was.

He then walked to the girl and maintained a regular face. "Is everything okay?"

The girl saw the handsome boy standing in front of her. She blushed heavily and looked down at the ground in embarrassment. Finally she had caught the attention of a hot guy. She felt like the luckiest girl in Kalos.

Serenas face after seeing the girl, could be defined by the word, 'Pissed'. She was ready to hit the girl with her hammer. Well, if you consider her fist as a hammer, that is.

She almost started to walk up to the girl and hit a decisive blow to her face. But soon she discovered that she wasn't able to move her body. When she looked at her feet she found Bonnie holding onto them tight. When she looked at her hands, she found Clemont grabbing onto them.

"What are you doing? Let me go Clemont!" Serena snapped with a hint of anger in her voice.

Still holding onto her arms, Clemont brought his face near Serenas left ear and whispered something.

"I believe in Ash. You should too."

It was like all of Serenas' anger drained out with those words. Clemont let go of her hands and Bonnie released her feet. She regained her usual calm self. For a moment her thoughts shifted somewhere else…

"Does he know about my feelings towards Ash?" she thought and decided to ask Clemont later. But at the moment she intently watched Ash and the girl.

Meanwhile, the girl brought out a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Ash, then she stuttered, "…P-Phone N-number..P-Please?

We all know that when people are in a tight position, they can't always say what they want to say and similarly, the listeners don't always hear what they were supposed to hear.

Let's just say that, something similar happened in this situation…

 **What the girl wanted to say-**

"Hello there! You are a very good looking guy. Maybe we could know each other better. So could you give me your phone number?"

 **What Serena heard-**

"Hey Sexy! Give me your phone number. We could meet up later and enter a hotel together. Then together we'll do M-rated stuff and that girl with the red hat can't do anything about it! Ha ha ha!"

Needless to say, Clemont and Bonnie had to return to their Serena restraining duties…

Ash, on the other hand, heard something which consisted of the word, phone number.

Ash maintained his regular face as he took a pen and the paper from the girl, wrote down something and returned it back to her. Then he started walking back to his friends.

The girl was still blushing like crazy. However, she took the paper and squealed out in joy.

Serena on the other hand looked devastated and felt as if her heart was being stabbed by a million needles. The siblings however, weren't losing hope.

The girl looked at the paper and became overjoyed seeing the number written there but frowned after seeing what was written below the number.

"Excuse me? Why have you given me the number of the Lumiose Hospital?" The girl asked, all sorts of hesitation disappearing from her voice.

Ash turned around and looked at her with a bored expression. "In case you haven't noticed, your right eye winks a lot. So you should definitely contact the Lumiose Hospital ASAP."

The girl just stared at him…

Slowly tears began to form in her eyes."Is he being rude or is he retarded?" The girl thought but didn't find an answer. Neither did she intend to.

She just faced the opposite direction and ran while drops of tears strolled down her face.

Ash just stood there naively as he watched the girl run off…

His friends who were watching the little 'love at first sight moment', felt sorry for the girl. She picked the wrong hot guy. Even Serena couldn't help but to feel pity.

But soon they couldn't control anymore as they laughed hysterically. Ash, as dumb as ever, only looked at his friends with a confused look.

* * *

 **May's POV:**

"Where is he!? It's been half an hour. I did tell him to wait here." I told to myself.

I was tired of waiting and decided to look around. "The airport was really crowded." I mumbled under my breath as I continued walking. "The people of Kalos are a lot different." I thought and looked at the people around me. They had weird fashion sense.

I was a little busy thinking about the difference of clothing between the people of Hoenn and Kalos. So, I accidentally bumped with a person; a girl.

"So Sorry!" I bowed down to apologize and then looked at her face. I was rather surprised to see that she was…crying?"

She was tall, I mean seriously tall and hat a green hat in her head. She didn't even bother to say anything as she pushed me to the side and ran.

I looked at the direction from where she came and saw a familiar face with a worried expression. I didn't need a second look to recognize who it was.

"He has changed…a lot." I almost gasped. "He has gotten taller, his shoulders have widened. His face now has a different charm to it. He is just looking too darn sexy!" I squealed.

I started to walk towards him. He didn't notice me. As I walked closer, I became more fascinated seeing his manly face. I looked at his raven black hair. It was as messy as always.

"I'm sure any girl would go crazy to have him as a boyfriend. But knowing him… Let's just see if I can get back what once could've been mine." I grinned.

Between all the people in the Airport, he was distracted. Perfect. My target was locked. I got low and walked on my toe. People gave me strange looks but I didn't care. Nobody knew who I was.

I snuck up behind him and before he could even notice, I covered his eyes with my hands. I could tell that he was a bit surprised but he didn't do anything.

I slowly brought my lips near his ears and whispered, "Guess who?"

* * *

Ash was talking to his friends. He still demanded to know why they were laughing. But they refused to tell him anything and were more interested in laughing.

Then he felt a pair of soft hands covering his eyes and even heard something which sounded like ,"Guess who?"

First he thought that it was another crazy girl. But it didn't take long for him to recognize that voice.

"It's you, isn't it Dawn?" Ash replied in a teasing voice.

"Dawn!? Why the hell would Dawn be here?" The brunette got out as she removed her hand from his eyes. But then Ash turned around and looked at her sapphire eyes. Seeing his grinning face, May got her answer.

"I'm just kidding, May! You really didn't think I would fail to recognize you, did you?"Ash asked slyly.

"Nope." May replied with the sweetest smile she could muster. "Didn't have a moment of doubt."

Then she hugged her long time friend passionately. Some people in the airport actually started whistling. They thought that it was a reunion of two old lovers. But they were crazy, according to Serena.

May broke the hug and noticed the yellow rodent jumping onto her shoulder and rub cheeks with her.

"Pikachu! It's been such a long time!" May said between her giggles.

"Pika pi Chuu!" The yellow rodent agreed.

Then it didn't take her long to notice the three unfamiliar faces standing in front of them.

"Hello." May said politely as she petted Pikachu behind his ears.

"May, let me introduce you to my friends." Ash said. "This is Clemont, the Lumiose city gym leader." He said, pointing at the male blonde.

"This is Bonnie, his little sister." Ash paused and pointed at the little rodent poking from her fanny bag. "And that's Dedenne.

Then he motioned towards the honey brown haired girl "May, this is Serena, a childhood friend of mine."

May smiled. "Well, it's very nice to meet you all."Then she paused and again said," I'm May, a coordinator from Hoenn."

"It's indeed a pleasure, Miss May." Clemont said nervously as he shook hands with the famous coordinator.

May giggled girlishly, "You can just call me May."

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too May. " Serena said, trying to sound happy. She wasn't too pleased with the passionate hugging. But before May could reply anything, she was startled by the outburst of a certain little girl.

"You're a keeper!" Bonnie shouted as May blinked. Then she noticed the red face of her brother right behind her.

"You see… I can't take care of my brother my entire life. So, I'm looking for a suitable wife for him." Bonnie explained as May listened intently. "What better wife to find than a top coordinator!" Bonnie exclaimed.

May blushed and smiled as she saw Clemont apologizing.

"This is so embarrassing. I just met Ash's old friend and you just had to do something like that, didn't you!"Clemont nagged as he grabbed Bonnie with his aipom arm then he again looked at May. "I really hope you don't mind my sister."

"Mind? Not at all" May put on a seductive face. "I would really love to marry a handsome and smart gym leader such as yourself."

… … …

Clemonts face was glowing red, redder than the old bandana May used to wear. He thought that he was going to faint in embarrassment. But before that could happen, he disappeared from the airport with Bonnie.

Ash and Serena could swear they also saw a glimpse of Bonnies face before disappearing. It was surprised and emotionless. The little blonde certainly didn't expect an answer like this…

When the siblings completely disappeared from sight, May turned around only to find Ash and Serena looking at her awkwardly.

They looked at each other for a second and burst out in laughter.

* * *

"Hey guys, did I overdo it?" May asked with a little concern in her voice but Ash and Serena kept on laughing."Don't worry. They'll get over it." Serena laughed some more as she imagined Clemonts embarrassed face.

The trio left the airport and was on their way to the Pokémon Center. Ash was being the gentle man and volunteered to carry all of Mays' luggage. Which he seriously regretted later…

"Hey May, how'd you know I was here in Kalos? I mean, we haven't seen each other in years." Ash asked in a puzzled tone.

"Well, I called your home and your mother told me that you were in Kalos. And then I tracked your Trainer ID and found you near the outskirts of Lumiose city." May said with a grin. Ash's face looked impressed.

"So May, what brings you here in the Kalos region?" Serena asked.

"Well actually I'm here to run an errand."May said as she giggled after seeing Ash having a hard time carrying all the luggage. Then she continued,

"It seems that professor Birch and Prof Sycamore are good friends. So, he asked me to come to Kalos to greet the professor and get my Blazikens' mega stone.

"Besides when I heard Ash was here, I just couldn't resist but to come here."

Ash was really having a hard time carrying the luggage but maintained a neutral face nonetheless, "I'm glad that you're here. Seeing an old friend really takes me back."

They smiled at each other.

… … …

Serena observed the two friends with a close eye. "Well, they look like nothing a more than very good friends. That's good…" she thought and breathed a sigh of relief.

The girls walked a little ahead of Ash. He fell behind due to the excess weight he was carrying. "You know May,"

May waited a little for Ash to catch up, "I almost thought that Brock and Max were gonna pop up behind you" May nodded lazily."I really miss them sometimes."

"Same here Ash, by the way, what is Brock up to now a days?"

Ash looked slightly surprised. "You didn't get the news, huh?"Ash said as May raised an eyebrow," He's a Pokémon doctor now and he owns a clinic in pewter city."

"Wow! That's amazing!" May exclaimed.

"Yup, after travelling so much together and it's really great to see him accomplish his dream." They nodded.

Serena smiled. She was really impressed with the Brock guy. Ash always kept on rambling about what an awesome cook Brock was. So, she was really hoping to meet the guy someday in the future.

Ash was searching for something else to ask. After sometime he found another topic to talk about.

"So May, how are Max and your parents doing?

… … ….

Hearing the question, May stopped walking. Her body froze and she couldn't move. Her beautiful face became pale and she started shivering. She wrapped her arms around her body and stared blankly at the ground. Her eyes got very big and didn't even blink once…

Ash and Serena got scared. May was looking really horrified, but why? She was blankly looking at the ground but at the same time she wasn't looking there. It was almost like she was looking somewhere else…

"May! What's wrong?" Ash dropped the luggage and grabbed her shoulders and slowly shook her slowly.

"May!" Ash again shouted. Serena was also really looking concerned.

May suddenly jumped a bit as she regained consciousness. The color of her face soon returned and she breathed heavily. The first thing she saw was the two worried faces in front of her.

May slapped her cheeks lightly with her palm and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry guys, I spaced out a little. I'm a bit tired."

"You got us worried there!" Serena said as she now had a much relieved face.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ash asked with a little suspicion mixed with his voice.

"I'm positive, Ash. Don't worry. I'm fine."May was now breathing normally.

Ash wasn't convinced but decided to be quiet. He picked up the luggage and resumed walking. The girls were walking ahead leaving him behind the group. He thanked Arceus for that actually. Now he could collect his thoughts privately.

"That didn't look like the outcome of tiredness to me…" Ash mumbled as he looked at the two girls, they were giggling while having some girl-talk, in which Ash didn't have the slightest interest.

Ash's face darkened," Her eyes… they were looking, horrified…." Ash sighed and glanced at the laughing face of the brunette, "I think you're hiding something …"

* * *

"Yes, she's going to the Pokémon center".

A shadowy figure with a red and black jacket was talking with someone in his cell phone. His voice was really dark and had no emotion in it. He was leaning against a wall in a dark alley.

"Understood." He slowly said as he glanced to his side at a girl; slight shorter than him who was also leaning against the wall, chewing a bubble gum.

The boy looked to be around 16-17 years of age and had a black hood covering his head. Between the darkness, only his moving mouth was visible. If one looked closely, a few strands of grey hair could also be seen.

The boy was still talking while the girl beside him was looking at him with a curious face. She was trying to get a better hold on the conversation the boy was having. She was also leaning in a place where there wasn't much light. But still, her red ruby eyes and raven black hair was clearly visible.

"I look forward to meeting you and don't worry," he paused." She won't leave my sight even if that's the last thing she'll ever do." The boy said with a strict voice. He paused to hear the person on the other side of the phone speak. Then he again continued,

"Remember, you've hired the best mercenaries the Hoenn region could produce, so if you want we could even execute her at broad daylight." The boy said as a small sadistic smile formed in his face.

But then the disappointed face he made, clarified that answer he got wasn't what he wanted…

"Good bye." He said in a rather cold voice and shoved the cell phone in his jacket pocket. He looked to his side and found the girl still intently looking at him with inquiring eyes.

"When is he coming?" she asked the boy who closed his eyes and sighed. "He'll be here in some days. We don't have time to waste, let's get back to work…little sister."

The boys' little sister smirked, "Music to my ears."

* * *

 **At the Pokémon Center**

* * *

"I'm impressed guys, Lumiose city is beautiful." The Hoenn native stated in a cheerful voice. She sat in Serenas' bed and rested her tired legs. Her luggage was safely placed beside her thanks to the gentleman who also goes by the name Ash.

"Yup, it's got everything." Bonnie chimed in as Mays face grew bright in excitement. "I can't wait to explore."

The female section of the group cheered.

The group was now in their Pokémon center room. Just like Ash had guessed, the embarrassed siblings left the Airport and went straight to the Pokémon center. When Ash, May and Serena entered the Pokémon center and saw the two blonde haired siblings, well let's just say that they didn't have a very good first impression about May.

May however, apologized and explained to them that it was a joke and things got much friendlier. (They actually took it seriously.)

"Whoa, hold your Rapidashes May, we've got more important things to do." Ash got out, getting annoyed looks from the girls.

"Which would be…?" May asked with a bored expression.

"Why, meeting the professor of course." Clemont explained.

"Oh shoot! I almost forgot. We have to go there ASAP." May smacked her forehead. How could she forget such an important thing! She fixed her sunglasses and picked her fanny bag, ready to hit the road.

"Good to see that we're back in track." Clemont stated as everyone burst out in laughter, almost everyone.

"Hey May?" Ash asked with a frown.

"Hmm?"

Ash started in a concerned voice, "I think you should rest up. You kn-"

Ash was stopped due to a finger being placed in his lips. "Don't worry about me Ash. I'm fine" May winked.

Ash wasn't convinced.

* * *

"Hey Sophie?" A middle aged man asked while blankly staring at his computer screen. He was wearing a purple shirt under his white lab coat. Some of his long silky hair even fell on his eyes.

"Yes professor?" His beautiful assistant replied. She had long blue hair which complimented her blue spectacled eyes. She was also wearing a lab coat.

She was busy arranging some papers at a nearby desk. "Anything I can do?"

"Where'd you keep Ash's gift?" Sophie smiled at the professors' question.

"Don't worry Professor. I've kept it in a safe place."

Professor Sycamore got up from his chair, stretched his limbs and stood near a window.

"I'm starting to get worried. They should have been here by now." He glanced to his left and saw Sophie standing there with a grin. "Don't worry professor. They'll be here."

"I sure do hope you're right Sophie..." Sycamore sighed and looked out of his window. He saw many people walking by. The day was bright and sunny. But his sightseeing was distracted with he heard his assistant speak,

"You know professor?" Sophie asked while the grin still present in her face. Sycamore looked at her, his face motioning for her to continue.

Sophie said in a seductive voice, "You look very sexy when you're worried."

The Professor gulped. He was searching for the right words to say."I-I…uh…"

Before the poor guy could say anything more, Sophie grabbed him by the collar and pushed him down over one of the wooden desks.

Papers flew everywhere. But they certainly didn't care.

The not-so-gentle assistant didn't waste a moment as she also jumped over the professor. She was locked on top of him; her body pressed up against his. Their eyes also locked on each other.

Sycamore noticed her glossy lips mumble something before he felt it. The feeling of his assistant's lips squeezing his own lips. The professor's eyes shot open as he saw his wild assistant use her hands to unbutton some buttons of his shirt which revealed his manly chest. She purred and again kissed his lips harder.

Between the intense make out session, he thought about what her lips were saying and he translated those words as…

"You make me wet."

* * *

"Hey Professor!?" came the shout from a little blonde haired girl.

The group left the Pokémon center and was now standing inside Professor Sycamore's laboratory. May still decided to come despite Ash telling her not to. May looked in awe at the latest mega evolution related technologies.

"This place is amazing!" May squealed in wonder as Ash chucked.

"Hey Professor! Are you here?" This time Serena shouted.

Ash and Pikachu could swear they heard two groaning noises from a particular room followed by some weird noises which sounded like clothes?

Before the trainer and his Pokémon could think anything more, a door burst open, revealing the professor, followed by Sophie.

"Well if isn't Ash and his friends!" Professor announced but he was panting a little. His assistant was also in the same state.

Ash fixed his cap and said, "Hey professor! How's it go-… hey, there's something red on your lips."

Sycamore's reflexes made him immediately cover his lips with his hand. Sophie blushed like crazy and looked the other way.

The lovesick professor and his assistant got dressed quickly and came to greet their guests. They covered up their trail very well but forgot to take care of one tiny thing: the mark of Sophie's lipsticks.

"Oh it's … he he ... its just k-ketchup." The professor got out as he laughed awkwardly. But that just got the teen more curious.

Pikachu's ears perked up at the sound of the word 'Ketchup'. He jumped from Ash's shoulder and landed on the professors head. He then got down on his shoulder and extended his lip towards the red substance in question.

Before the professor could do anything Pikachu licked the professors lips and tasted the lipstick...

Needless to say, Pikachu didn't like it and even did the pleasure of giving the professor a light shock before returning to Ash.

Ash was quite surprised. He knew Pikachu won't ever dislike the taste of ketchup. So, it must be something else.

So...Professor? What was tha-"

Before allowing the curious teens to ask anything more… the professor cleared his throat, trying to change the topic. "Looks like you've brought a new friend." He said while making a gesture towards May.

"Oh hello professor. I'm May Maple and it's a pleasure to meet you."

"May? Oh! You must be the girl Birch told me about." May nodded. "I never knew he would be sending such a lovely and beautiful lady."

May giggled. But Serena and Sophie shot dead glares at the professor which made him flinch and then cough in nervousness. He still mentally congratulated himself for getting out of that messy situation.

Sophie understood and also giggled.

"He ComPLIMENTED May! He never complimented me before!" an enraged Pokémon performer thought furiously but her face didn't do a good job of hiding it. But soon she calmed down thinking that it wasn't such a big deal.

"By the way, I take it that you and Ash know each other?"

"Oh yes! Ash and I go way back." May put her arm around Ash's shoulder and winked. "We're like best friends!"

The professor smiled. "Well that's great. Now, I want to give you something. So, follow me." he said as the group followed him to the living room. Sophie on the other hand, went somewhere else.

Sitting in the living room, Ash was telling stories about his last gym battle; to which everyone payed close attention. After sometime Sophie came with two boxes in her hands.

The two boxes were made of wood. Each of their bodies were decorated with many carvings, which gave the boxes a very enchanting look.

Sycamore took one of the boxes and opened it. Inside, there were two mega rings. They were shaped like a bracelet, black in color and in the center, the keystones were safely placed. He brought out and gave one to Ash and one to May.

"Wow! Finally, my very own mega ring!" Ash got out in delight as he slid his wrist between it." Thanks a lot professor!"

May also did the same gesture.

"You don't need to thank me." The professor smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. Then he took the other box from Sophie's hand.

"Well, I have both good news and bad news. Which one do you prefer first?

"Good news! Good news!" Bonnie screamed as she jumped up and down.

The Professor laughed a little at the little girl's enthusiasm but then got serious."You see, we found the Sceptilite but we couldn't quite retrieve the Blazikenite yet."

"I see…" May said with a little disappointment visible in her voice. Then she again looked cheered up as she said, "oh well, at least you have Ash's scep-" May stopped as she suddenly realized something."Hey Ash, Sceptilite is used to mega evolve Sceptile, right?"

"Yes."

"So does that mean, Sceptile is here with you?" May asked with a hopeful voice. Ash nodded as she screamed in happiness.

"Can I see him? Please?" May asked with the cutest puppy dog eyes you could ever see. Ash couldn't say no to that.

He nodded and picked a ball from his belt. Pressing the button in the middle, the red sphere expanded. He then threw the ball in the air, which released a white energy. Soon, the energy took the form of a green wood Gecko Pokémon with a trademark twig in his mouth.

"Scep-Tile" The Pokémon roared. He took his battle position and looked around to spot his enemy but instead, the thing he first saw was a familiar girl with brunette hair giving him a bone crushing hug.

The wood gecko Pokémon flinched at first. But after recognizing the face hugging him, he returned the hug with a happy cry. "Oh Sceptile I missed you so much! How are you?"

"Tile-Sceptile!"

The people present in the lab, could do nothing but to smile.

The Pokémon and the coordinator broke the hug and smiled. "Hey Ash? How come Sceptile's here? I mean, don't you always bring new Pokémon to a new region?"

"You see May, Professor Oak and I had a talk some days ago. He told me that Sceptile was really missing me and wanted to get some action. So, here he is now." Ash informed.

"Also, he is a very strong addition to Ash's team. He almost single handedly helped Ash win the last gym." Serena added.

"Besides," Bonnie chimed in."He's such a sweetheart!" Bonnie said as she tried to reach Sceptile's neck. After doing so, she petted him which earned her a little embarrassed blush from the green reptile.

"Also, there's one more reason." Ash stated as everyone looked at him.

… … …

"The dimwit author of this story really likes Sceptile."

Everyone nodded in understanding…

Professor Sycamore meanwhile opened the second box, which revealed a precious green colored stone; the Sceptilite. Every eye sparkled at the glistening stone. He then gave Ash the mega-stone and motioned him to do something to which Ash nodded.

The group including Sceptile came to the Pokémon ranch of his lab. It was a place where they had come several times before. It almost looked like a green house filled with trees.

Professor Sycamore looked straight at the raven haired boy's auburn eyes. "So Ash, ready to give a try?"

Ash took a deep breath and nodded." Sceptile, are you ready?"

"Tile-Sceptile" the green lizard approved.

"Remember Ash, this will test the bond you and Sceptile share. Believe in your Pokemon and nothing will go wrong."

Bonnie, Clemont and Serena also looked a little tensed. "So, is Sceptile going to mega-evolve?' Serena asked as Clemont gave a thoughtful sigh. "I hope so."

"Don't worry."

Serena, Clemont and Bonnie looked at the source of the voice which belonged to the brunette, who was still gazing at Ash and Sceptile. "I was there when Ash caught Sceptile back when he was a Treecko. I was also there when Ash raised him up to be the strong Pokemon he is now." May paused.

"I don't have a little bit of doubt about their bond."

… … …

Sceptile was standing firmly; the sceptileite in his hand. His face was showing that he was ready to brace anything.

"Sceptile! Mega evolve!" Ash shouted as he lightly stroked his mega bracelet with his finger.

Within a very short time, one could see Sceptile's body being covered with a brilliant light. The spectators looked in awe at the spectacle taking place in front of their eyes.

Soon, after several moments of being engulfed by the light, the transformation was complete. The bright light started to fade away. Following it, the sign of mega evolution shone above him, and the new Pokémon was revealed.

The Pokémon standing in front of them was what one would consider a more menacing and monstrous looking Sceptile. It had red-green color pallet. Its eyes were yellow, but surrounding it was a thick layer of red. Its tail also grew larger.

All in all, it was a Pokémon you wouldn't want to be alone with in a dark alley...

It wasn't showing any movement. It was just sitting on its knees, facing the ground. Ash saw the whole evolution. After it had completed, Ash ran towards his newly evol, no, mega evolved Pokemon.

Serena called out his name in concern.

Behind her, the concerned faces of everyone else could also be seen. But not May. She still had a cute little smirk in her face.

Ash ran, but reduced his speed once he was 4 meters away from the numb Pokémon.

"Sceptile?" Ash slowly uttered but he found no response.

"Sceptile! Can you hear me? It's me, Ash." This time the boy asked a little louder, praying to Arceus that so he doesn't have to face anything similar to Korrina had to face.

"WAKE UP! SCEPTILE! "

Ash's last outburst was so loud that everyone present there could feel shivers run down their spine.

But that seemed to have worked because now the Pokémon showed signs of movement. Slowly, but steadily, he got up. Ash could see his eyes. They were glowing yellow.

To everyone's big surprise, the Pokémon hastily got up and started to stretch his limbs?

"SCEP-TILE" The mega-evolved Pokémon roared with a mighty roar. Almost everyone felt horrified, well, everyone but Ash and May. Ash knew his Pokémon like the back of his hand.

Mega-evolved or not, Ash knew this sort of cry meant only one thing; Sceptile was fit and ready for action.

He looked around and noticed the terrified faces surrounding them. To prove them wrong, he did one thing: Hug the menacing Pokémon.

Everyone had big eyes at the sight. But their faces soon calmed down when they saw the Pokémon responding to its trainer's hug.

No second thought was needed as all the people present there now stood around Mega Sceptile and his trainer, congratulating them.

May just gave one last grin as she mumbled, "Thought so!"

The Professor had a wide smile in his face." Well everyone, it looks like the Mega evolution is a success!"

* * *

The group was now back in the living room, still talking about the amazing thing they just experienced. May nudged closer to the professor and asked, "Hey professor? When will I get the Blazikenite?"

Sycamore put on a sad look and replied," Sorry, It's going to take time."

May frowned."Just how long are we talking about?"

"I'd say about a month or so…" The brunette looked disappointed.

"Or…" Sophie chimed in."You could personally go and retrieve the mega stone yourself."

"Seriously!?" The girl suddenly cheered up and asked the assistant.

The assistant fixed her glasses and replied," West from Lumiose city, from the dock, the S.S Anne will leave for Kanto, two days from today."

"S.S Anne…" Ash remembered his journey on the ship six years ago and it wasn't a memory he was fond of.

"On the way to Kanto, the ship will make a stop at an Island called 'Navadip'. That island is famous for finding all sorts of need to go there and find the Mega-evolution guru. He'll guide help you in your hunt." Sophie ended with a smile.

"So! What are we waiting for!?" Ash burst out with excitement which could even put Bonnies' screaming into shame. "Let's get moving guys!"

May blinked and looked at the hyperactive boy. "Wait, Ash. You're going with me?"

"Of course!" Ash got out sounding like that it was an obvious answer. "I wouldn't miss the chance of travelling with you again!"

"Aw Ash, you're so sweet!" May happily squealed and paused. Then she again started. "I'm happy that you're willing to accompany me Ash, but I really don't want to cause trouble to any of your friends."

"Nono it really isn't any trouble, is it?" Ash said as he looked at his friends for an answer.

"I'll be fun to do Mega-stone hunting again." Clemont stated to which his sister nodded. Serena was still confident that May wouldn't be an obstacle in her love life so she also gave the OK signal.

"Yay! we'll be travelling with May!" Bonnie shouted in happiness.

"It's settled then, Navadip Island, HERE WE COME!" Ash shouted with enthusiasm as the others cheered.

The group thanked the professor and his assistant once again before heading out. Professor Sycamore bid farewell to the young travelers and closed the main door. Then he turned around and looked at his assistant with a perverted grin in his face.

"So… where were we?"

* * *

 **Third chapter, done and dusted.**

 **As you can see, May has a slightly 'slutty' personality along with the usual traits. I added this to spice the story up a bit. We also know where their journey will be headed.**

 **So, yeah, the story is progressing. If you find anything in my story which needs improvement, Please... Don't hesitate and PM me.**

 **I'm going to get a little philosophical here.**

 **The great Napoleon once said,**

 **" _If you give me an educated mother, I'll give you an educated Nation."_**

 **Then there's me, who also said,**

 _ **"If you give a stack full of reviews, I'll give you a much faster update!"**_

 **Meh, That was lame :P**

 **Also, check out my first advanceshipping one-shot. I put a lot of work behind it, so you might like it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chap 4:**

 **Hello and Welcome to the fourth chapter of 'A fake Mask'.**

 **As always, thanks for the reviews.**

 **You guys may think that I thank you guys each chapter just for mere formality, but no. I read each review with my whole heart. When I find that someone actually enjoyed reading what I wrote...well, I can't explain how I feel...**

 **Anyway, I wrote my first one-shot where, I held a little quiz and the winners are: SlaydusBR95 and some other guest who was too lazy to log in XD. Congratulations, you get something, which is not a cookie XD. (Cookies are too mainstream B-))**

 **Some of you guys might hate me for what May does in this chapter. But Gah, Just read, enjoy and REVIEW!**

* * *

Ash Ketchum looked at the sky. The bright sun temporarily blinded him as he immediately covered his eyes with the front of his cap.

Shaking off the temporary blindness, he looked ahead and saw his friends walking. May was telling them some story as everyone listened attentively. Ash smiled and did a short run to catch up to them.

"And then to help Romeo practice his confession speech, we dressed Ash as Juliet!" May said as everyone exploded in laughter. It took Ash a few seconds to understand what May was talking about. But after finally realizing the talking subject, the raven haired boy groaned and gave May an annoyed look. That particular occurrence wasn't his proudest moment as a boy…

May just responded with an innocent smile.

"Ash! You never told us you dressed as a girl!" Bonnie snickered. Ash shot May another glare as the brunette also started giggling.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you…"

May stopped her laughter and blinked."What do you mean?"

"I guess our friends should also know about a certain tentacool incident…" Ash said slyly.

"What tenta…cool" May paused."…incident…"

The top coordinator froze as she stuttered,"Y-You wouldn't dare!"

Ash smirked and closed his eyes, "try me…"

But, when the boy opened his eyes, his cocky smile turned into a scared frown. He saw a beautiful girl with a red face and burning eyes storming towards him…

He might have been brave enough to defeat the eight Kalos gym leaders, but his bravery certainly didn't stand a chance in front of the enraged coordinator. He knew that.

So, he did the only thing a sane person would do: Run.

Clemont, Bonnie and Serena, along with some other passerby people watched in utter amusement as the enraged brunette chased the trainer.

"Look at them…" The youngest blonde started in a wise tone; her speech mainly directed at Serena, who was standing next to her. "It's like they were meant for each other."

Bonnie glanced to her side and saw the soon-to-be Kalos Queen stare at her with big eyes. Bonnie snickered and again returned her gaze at the cat and mouse game.

"If a certain someone doesn't stop them, then very soon, we'll be attending a marriage ceremony." Bonnie slyly said as she ran behind Ash and May, followed by Clemont.

Serena just stood there dumbfounded. She blankly believed that May was nothing more than a friend of Ash. But the little girls' speech made her think...

* * *

"Hey Serena, could you and May wait for me at the Pokémon Center?" Ash asked while panting like crazy.

After almost ten minutes of running, the brunette gave up. She was energetic, sure. But not as much as the raven haired Mankey.

"Sure Ash, but…" Serena replied but then asked with a curious tone, "Where are you going?"

Ashs' panting had stopped as he stood beside Clemont and put his arm around his shoulder."Well, you see…" The boy said in a cheerful tone, "Clemont and I have some special business to take care of." He finished with a wink.

… … …

That didn't sound right, especially to the brunette. She raised an eyebrow and asked with a voice which had a hint of disbelief.

"Ash...You're a Gay!?"

 **Dead Silence**

Serena was shocked. She looked at Ash with a devastated stare. Clemont was also too surprised to say anything. It felt like time had stopped…

But this silent stance was broken when the teens saw a little blonde girl roll in the ground in laughter. Everyone started moving again; Clemont being the first one.

He waved his hand constantly which meant," You're getting the wrong idea!" Ash looked at his friends asked in a confused tone,

"Um..guys? What's a gay?"

Another **Dead Silence**

Serena sighed, mostly in relief. She got really spooked thinking that she might have lost her crush because of...THAT reason.

May face palmed. She also had a relieved smile as she replied,

"Nevermind Ash…Nevermind."

Ash looked at his friends. He couldn't read what the expressions on their faces depicted. There were some times when he felt like an alien in his group and nothing they said made any sense.

This was just one of these moments…

"Ehm." Clemont cleared his throat and started, "Ash and I are going to visit south Lumiose. Where, a man I know crafts metallic plates to fit in mega-stones.

Ash planned to make a shoulder piece for Sceptile where his mega stone will be placed. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less..." Clemont ended in a matter of fact tone.

"Oh I see" May bit her tongue dramatically and raised both her arms in her defense. "Sorry for the misconception."

Clemont rolled his eyes.

"Hey Ash? Why can't we come along?"Serena whined.

"You see Serena," Ash explained. "May is really tired and she needs some rest. And, South Lumiose is actually quite the distance from here. So, I thought you guys should head back to the Pokemon Center and rest up."

"Aw Ash, aren't you the sweetest one!" May covered her cheeks with her hands and squealed even more dramatically. Serena rolled her eyes and then asked. "So, why is Clemont going with you?"

"Well you see, I don't actually know the way there…he he...So I need Clemont."

"What do I do!?" Bonnie humped.

"It's your choice really. You can go with May and Serena or come with us."

Bonnie put her finger on her chin and looked at May and Serena, then again looked at Ash and her brother.

"Hmmm… going with May and Serena would be fun. But…I'm going go with big brother. The girl paused and started talking slyly after looking at the girls, "Serena, May, don't worry. I'll make sure nothing happens between them on the way." Bonnie finished with a wink.

"Clemont fell down anime style. The girls giggled uncontrollably and Ash stood there with yet another clueless stare.

Pikachu face palmed; embarrassed at his trainers' naïve attitude.

Ash shrugged it off and said, "We'll be going then." Ash put his hand on the strap of his bag and said, "See you later guys."

"Bye guys!" The siblings chimed.

Serena put one hand on her heart and waved back. "Bye Ash! Come back soon!" she said with a caring voice.

May also waved, but her attention was on the girl. She took notes on every action the girl has been showing.

So, the friends parted ways and went opposite directions.

* * *

The two beautiful girls were on their way to the Pokémon center. The walk was going on smoothly as they talked about many things, which mostly included annoying girl-talk and stories of the many adventures they had.

"You know, back when Ash and I travelled together, we had a lot of fights."

"Really!?" Serena got out.

"That boy was really impatient and had no sort of tolerance. But now I can see that he's changed, and in good ways also." Serena was listening quite attentively. She was always interested to hear anything about Ash.

"I mean, if it was the old Ash, he'd drag us along with him. No doubt" May joked which caused Serena to giggle.

"Ashy-boy has really grown up." May said proudly.

"Ashy-boy?"

"Oh you don't know." May put on a sneaky grin. "It's a name his rival used to call him. He loves the name so much!" May laughed sarcastically.

The honey brown haired performer found it amusing.

"Ashy- boy doesn't sound like a bad name. I think I'll use that name myself!"

Eventually, Mays' eyes noticed the ribbon on Serenas' dress.

The blue fabric of the ribbon shone brightly in the sunlight. "Wow Serena! That's a really cute ribbon."

"I know right?" Serena smiled." Ash gave it to me."

… … …

Though her face didn't show it, she felt a sharp pain inside her heart. Maintaining a normal face, she cleared her throat and said, "Wow, that's a surprise."

Serena looked at the ribbon and played with it slightly. Then she looked at the brunette and said, "believe it or not, I was even more surprised than you!"

May took a deep breath and kept on walking.

* * *

After a long bus journey, the three friends finally stood at their destination. The raven haired trainer looked at his surroundings.

It was south of Lumiose, but the place was a lot different from the Lumiose city they knew. The street wasn't as busy as Central Lumiose neither was there so many buildings. This part of town actually had a lot of greenery.

Ash glanced to his side and looked at his travelling companions. The blonde boy was looking pissed but his sister kept on snickering. She kept on teasing her brother by calling him some foreign word; the meaning of which he didn't know.

"Hey Clemont, where now?"

Clemont gave a little cough and shove off the pissed look from his face. Then he pointed at a wooden house on the other side of the road. "There it is."

Without wasting much time, the trio crossed the road and gazed at the old, wooden house. Ash pushed the door and entered the house, followed by the siblings.

Inside the house was actually, quite dark and dusty.

"Hello!?" Clemont shouted. "Mr. Fosbury, You here?"

No response.

"Maybe he isn't home guys. Maybe we should come back later." Ash suggested, but suddenly the light turned on; lighting the house. Ash was a little startled, but then noticed it was Bonnie who did it. When he looked at her, she gave a signature cheeky smile.

Ash became awestruck at what he saw. The wall of the wooden house was covered with silver ornaments. Every single ornament was well polished and had amazing designs. Ash could easily identify the amount of work put behind crafting each of them.

Ash noticed another thing in the house. A little man, resting his head on a table. Ash approached the man slowly and found that he was sleeping soundly like a baby.

"Hey Clemont?" Ash whispered,"Is this the man we're searching?"

Clemont nodded.

"Excuse me!" Ash said a little louder; trying to wake up the little man. Slowly, the man opened his eyes and sat upright on his chair. He rubbed his eyes and groggily asked,"Yes? What can I do for you?"

This time Clemont approached the man and put on a smile. "Hello Mr. Fosbury, can you remember me?"

The man rubbed his eyes once more and said, "Ah Clemont! It's been a long time. My, you've grown up!"

"Hello there!" Bonnie also tried to introduce herself as the man did a small chuckle." I know you. You're Bonnie. Am I right?"

The girl just hastily shook her head up and down. "And who are you, my boy?" The man asked, motioning towards Ash.

Ash fixed his cap and said, 'I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. This is my partner, Pikachu." He said, motioning towards the yellow rodent.

"Pi Pika!" Pikachu said as he made a gesture with his little hands to introduce himself.

"He's a close friend of mine." The blonde haired boy informed.

The little man raised an eyebrow and looked at Clemont then looked at Ash.

"Hmm… Clemont, I never thought …you'd swing that way. Not there's anything wrong with it! But sti-"

Before the man could finish his sentence, he heard a SMACK sound, due to Clemont hitting his forehead in annoyance. Bonnie giggled.

"Seriously, why was everyone coming with this stupid conclusion…?" He thought sadly. What made him even more pissed was when he saw Ash…was also…giggling.

… … …

The poor gym leader just stared at the boy with pure disbelief in his eyes. The man was just calling him gay, how the hell could he be giggling at a time like this!

"Ash, tell me." Clemont said in a voice which had a mixture of anger and sarcasm. "What's a gay?"

Ash shrugged, "Not sure. Why?"

"Then…why were you laughing?"

"Because I thought the man just said something funny. Besides, Bonnie was laughing. So, I didn't want to get left out." The boy said nonchalantly but he heard another smacking sound. This one was much louder.

Seeing Clemonts red forehead, one could easily guess where the sound came from…

If Bonnie was just giggling before, she was rolling in the ground in laughter. Clemont said in a defeated voice, "Nevermind Ash, just tell him why we're here…"

"Come on out Sceptile!" Ash threw a red-white sphere in the air and revealed the Green Lizard. Ash handed the Sceptilite to the little man who took a close look at it.

Ash motioned towards the shoulder of his fierce grass warrior and said, "Look here sir. I need an arm piece to place the Sceptilite. Can you help me?"

The little man jumped on a table and looked at sceptiles' shoulder closely and nodded occationaly. He then tilted his head towards Ash and said, "I can do it. But I need time."

"Don't worry. We have all the time in the world."

* * *

"What do you mean two chocolate ice-creams are 180 pokedollars! Are you crazy or something!?" An enraged Pokémon Performer shouted at a man standing in front of them.

On the path to the Pokemon Center, the two girls took an unexpected detour and ended up standing in front of an ice-cream parlor. Nobody can resist ice-cream!

However, they had to face a snotty shopkeeper with a fat moustache. And to say that he was fat was a BIG understatement. He wore a cap which somehow covered his bald head.

"Sorry darlings, when I say two ice-creams are 180 pokedollars, they are 180 pokedollars. So, if you want to buy something, bring out the money…or scram!" The big mass of abomination snorted at the two girls.

Serena was pissed and was about to shot back at the man in retaliation but Mays' hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. The brunette winked at Serena and stood in front of the chubby guy.

Before the brunette could say anything, she noticed something. The big fat shopkeeper was stealing glances at her developed upper body...

May could also see that the man was almost sweating as he had a very hard time keeping eye contact with her.

The brunette mentally giggled."Looks like we have a perverted douche in our hands… Time to have some fun…" She thought and gave an evil smirk.

She put on a seductive grin and looked at the shopkeeper which caused him gulp in nervousness. Like a professional stripper she brought her hands on her red shirt and slowly undid the first three buttons; revealing a very sexy cleavage.

The man was literally taking a bath in his own sweat. He couldn't help but stare at heavenly sight the brunette was displaying.

She looked at the mans' eyes with the sexiest look she could muster and moaned slightly.

"You see…Today is a very HOT day… and to get rid of the extreme HOTNESS we wanted some ice-cream. So, can you give us some? Pleease?" May pleaded with the cutest puppy dog eyes he will ever see.

Without wasting a single second, the fat guy brought two well decorated chocolate ice-creams. He did it with such amazing speed that people would consider it impossible for a man of his size.

"Umm...Do we, have to give you money?" May asked with a frown. Even that frown was sexy.

The man shook his head rapidly from left to right and fainted in excitement before handing May the ice-creams. May shrugged it off and looked at the fainted man. While looking, she extended an ice-cream to her side, where Serena was standing.

But seeing no one picking it up, she glanced at her side only to see a honey brown haired girl stand there with her jaw wide open. She couldn't believe what she just saw…

"Hello? Earth to Serena! Anyone there?" May waved her hand in front of her face with a playful grin.

"How'd you do that!?" Serena snapped as broke out of her trance of shock and looked at the brunette with questioning eyes. "Tell me please…"

"Breasts Serena, Breasts." Serena blinked as the brunette continued, "They can be the biggest weakness of men only if they are utilized properly. Got it?"

Serena stood there dumbfounded, unable to reply. May handed an ice-cream to her and ran out of the parlor with a proud grin, an awestruck Serena following close behind.

Serena was trying to sink in everything she saw moments ago. She glanced to her left and saw the brunette happily licking away her ice-cream.

"You know May?" The coordinator shifted the gaze from her ice-cream and looked at her. "You are a perfect slut!"

Serena expected a negative reaction, some words in retaliation perhaps, but instead she only got a smirk in reply, "I'll take that as a compliment."

She looked at her with pure amazement and exploded in laughter, May also doing he same.

"Enough with that." May said as she tried to die down her laughter. "Tell me more about your adventure."

"Sure, what do you want to hear?" Serena asked, trying to calm herself down as well.

"How about the story when you first met Ash?" May suggested as Serena giggled. "Good choice."

Serena put a finger in her cheek."Now.. where do I begin,"

"Ah yes. It was back when I was seven years old…"

* * *

Clemont looked around. Greenery was all that he saw. He remembered the last time when he came to visit this place when he was a lot younger. Just as he remembered, this place had more trees than buildings.

"I really missed this place. This place is a part of Lumiose, but then again, it is so different." Clemont thought as he walked by the footpath, grabbing the straps of his bag with his hand.

Mr. Fosbury was taking a long time preparing the arm piece for Sceptile. So, the blonde decided to take a walk and stroll down memory lane.

Ash insisted to stay with the little man to assist him in his work and Bonnie wanted to explore the shop more, so, they stayed behind.

"Hmm…" Clemont thought as he remembered the path ahead. 'If I remember correctly, the playground should be just around the corner."

The boy increased his speed; many good memories revolving around his head. He checked his surroundings and found not a single person in sight.

"That's strange…" Clemont thought. "I know, not many people live in this part of town but, it's quieter than a ghost town."

Soon, as he approached the playground he was searching for, his ears heard some ferocious howls coming from a corner of the ground.

His curiosity being perked up, he made his way towards the source of the hollering. But after his eyes saw the origin of the noises, he couldn't help but to look with big eyes.

"No way…" He mumbled under his breath.

Six men surrounded a girl with raven black hair and Red-ruby eyes.

The men looked like nothing less than a gang of hipsters. All of them were at least six feet tall and had black attire along with accessories. Some wore ear-rings, some wore black bandanas in their heads and some even took the pleasure of wearing nose-rings.

The men surrounded the girl with absolute perversion written in their faces. Some of them whistled, some made fun of the girl while pointing towards her body. But the girl just stood there with her hands behind her back. She also had a blank look in her red eyes.

Clemont was stuck between two decisions. He either could call for help, but that might be too late. Or he could jump into the battlefield and save the girl.

He needed to react fast. Though the former option was easier for him, he took the latter option and jumped in like a brave heart he wasn't…

As Clemont approached the girl with shaky legs, a punk with a black bandana noticed him. He shot a glare at the boy as he wasn't in the mood to make new friends.

"Get out from here geek, there's nothing here!" Clemont flinched at the man's harsh voice. "Or..." The man put on a sly tone, "Do you want a piece of her too?"

"Leave the girl alone!" Clemont shot back, unable to believe that those words came from his mouth.

A dead silence covered the ground…

The next thing that could be seen was six men rolling in the ground with laughter.

"The geek thinks he's tough!" A man scoffed as another cranked his knuckles. "I say we feed him to our mightyenas.

"Silence!" Another man with black sunglasses, probably their leader, roared and stood in front of the shaking blonde.

He looked straight at the boys' eyes and started, "Hello Mr. Hero."

Clemont just kept on shaking.

"Listen here, I'll make a deal." The man started reasoning, "I'll let the girl leave the place, unharmed, but under one condition."

"What?" Clemont somehow asked.

The man grinned and talked in a low tone but enough for everyone to hear.

"I'll let the girl go, only if…I GROW A DICK ON MY FUCKING FACE!"

The man announced as the others roared in laughter.

Clemonts trembling disappeared. With a stern look on his face his stood in front of the girl in a defensive manner. He glanced at the girl and saw that she was looking at him with an emotionless stare; her hands still behind her back.

The men shook off their laughter and looked at the blonde with cruel looks as they brought out their Machete; ready to slaughter the boy.

Clemont gulped and hastily put his bag in front of him. Without wasting much time he brought out one of his inventions which looked like, 'The fix any Hair Mark-3'? (You know, the device he used in chap-2)

The men again gave out muffled laughter's. "Look the hero's got a toy!"

Clemont put the machine down and hastily pushed a button. Soon, black smoke started to come out from the device and engulfed the entire ground. Soon, everything was so dark that one couldn't even see their hand if they brought near their face.

The men looked around, unable to see anything. Their faces were saying only three words, "WTF!"

But as the smoke was covering the area, Clemont didn't notice that the girl standing behind him slowly bury a knife inside a secret pouch of the dress she was wearing…

Clemont didn't wait to see the looks on their faces, so he ran while pulling the girl by the hand. The girl also followed dispassionately.

Within mere seconds, they cleared out of the ground and continued running. The smoke slowly died and six men looked around only to find that they were the only ones around the area…They shook their heads in frustration and walked away…never again to be seen again in this story…

Clemont kept running. One hand on his bag and the other on the girls' wrist. He kept dashing at a speed which many people would consider impossible for human standards. The girl was actually doing a good job keeping up with such pace.

While running, Clemont looked back and found that on one was chasing them. Then he looked at the girl, who still had that emotionless look on her face, and then he focused on the path ahead.

He still kept on running. But then he remembered a very important thing. If he keeps running at such speed, he would be considered OOC… He couldn't let that happen!

So, coming to his senses, he stopped running and panted like he was dying.

With his now tired feet, he looked at the girl. Surprisingly, she wasn't panting a bit!

This time Clemont got a better look on the girl. She had silky, straight raven black hair which reached her waist. She wasn't tall, maybe, 5 feet 6 inches. She also had two bright red ruby eyes. Though he didn't notice it before, he noticed it now…

The girl had a face which could also be compared to the Moon itself. May and Serena were gorgeous and Hot, but she was, Beautiful… Clemont almost had a small blush in his cheeks.

She wore a black and red dress which nicely complimented her hair and eyes. She also had a really nice and curvy figure which Clemont found very attractive.

The girl stood near the boy and looked at him with the same emotionless eyes. Her lips slowly moved and formed some words.

"Idiot."

Clemont blushed and smiled sheepishly, "You don't need to thank me, I did what I thought was righ- wait, what?"

"I said, you're an idiot. I could've finished those men without breaking a sweat. But, I couldn't. Because of you." The girl spat out those words.

"Wait. I saved you from those men…

"So?" The beautiful girl got out with disgust.

"You want me fall in love with you or something?" The girl paused. "Sorry idiot, but that only happens in high school fics. This is reality."

Clemont blinked. But before he could say anything, the girl raised his hand and silenced the blonde boy.

"I hate men." The girl sighed and left the dumbfounded boy.

As she walked away, Clemont watched the girl. He just had a new experience. Who knew a girl so pretty could be so dire inside…

He looked at the girl once more as she walked out of sight. He remembered his naïve friends' wise saying.

"Girls are crazy…"

* * *

"Then he led me by the hand and brought me back to the camp"

May licked her ice-cream and listened to the story attentively."Wow Serena, that's quite a story.

Serena smiled. "I travelled with him so far in Kalos. Though he sometimes behaves like a retard, deep down, he's a great person."

Soon they saw the building with the red roof in sight.

May kept on licking her ice-cream in such a manner, description of which goes beyond M- rating. Seeing it, some boys walking past them almost had heart attacks. Serena looked disgusted, but then she laughed it off. She was really loving May.

"You really care for him, don't you?" May asked out of the blue.

Serena was taken aback by the sudden question as she stuttered, "W-What do you mean?"

May stopped walking and looked at her, dead in the eye. "Do you love him?"

Serena blushed madly and laughed sheepishly, "That's random."

But Mays serious face showed that she wasn't kidding. Seeing it, Serena hastily waved her hand in front of her face in total denial.

"No! I don't love him! I mean what is there to love him about! He is unhygienic, he never cuts his hair heck, he doesn't even understand the meaning of love!" Serena got out as May followed closely.

Then the performer started in a whispering tone,"He is also very handsome and caring…ehem! He's only a friend."

"Oh I see!" May exclaimed while feeling Déjà vu. "I agree that he is unhygienic, never cuts his hair aand, he doesn't understand a thing about love. But…"

"But?"

May started in a matter of fact tone. "I find all of his traits very cute and tonight I'm going to sleep with him."

"Sure. Whatever you like." Serena said casually but after processing the meaning her last statement held…

"What! There's NO Way! He's mine!" She screamed and looked at the girl with a furious face.

"Aha!" May smirked. "I knew it!"

Serena sighed in defeat. She just fell in Mays' trap. She knew there was no escaping now…

"Fine, I'll admit it. I love him. But how'd you guess? Is it so obvious?"

"Dear Serena, you are talking with a person who watched more love novels than the number of hairs on your head." May said in a scary tone but then giggled after looking at the face Serena was giving her." Ok ok maybe I was exaggerating a bit!"

"Um May?"You were kidding about the 'sleeping with Ash' part, right?" Serena asked in hopeful tone. She wasn't going to take any of Mays' words for granted. Not after what she saw at the ice cream parlor…

May put on a smile; a smile mixed with sweetness and evilness. Serena gulped.

"Listen Serena, I'm gonna let you on in a secret" May brought her face near the girls' left ear.

"I love him too and I wasn't kidding about sleeping with him."

Serena froze after hearing those words. Then she saw May running towards the Pokemon Center with a mischievous smile running across her face.

She wasn't expecting this to happen. All her assumptions were wrong. Bonnie was right. May really had a thing for Ash. She couldn't believe it…

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Serena screamed at the top of her lungs and ran; hot on her heels.

"Looks like I've earned myself a love rival…"

* * *

 **Fourth Chapter; Done and Dusted.**

 **Thanks to everyone for reading it. Don't know about you guys, but I find this chapter really funny. Had tons of fun writing it too!**

 **Now, to some serious business,**

 **The girl who Clemont saved was an OC. Who is she? I'll give you a hint, she's been already shown in the story ;) Also, May made it clear that she loves Ash, so, how does Serena react to it?**

 **Lastly,**

 **REVIEW! If you think that the chapter was the slightest bit of fun to read, review. You wont believe how much a review means to a writer. I'm no exception. It takes hours to write a chapter and even more hours to be satisfied with it. While it takes less than a minute to review.**

 **Sorry if I'm being a douche.**

 **If you have any questions, any ideas, any suggestions... feel free to PM me!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chap 5:**

 **Welcome fellow readers. I'm back with chapter 5!**

 **I'm actually quite happy that most of the people liked May's slutty personality. I personally think that it is very funny. But many of you have questions regarding May's feelings towards Ash. I hope this chapter will satisfy your doubts.**

 **Anyway, there may be some of you who think May's character is OOC. For them, I have a short paragraph. So BRACE Yourselves! XD**

 **In the AG series, we actually saw two versions of May. If you guys analysed the series like I did, you'll probably know that in season 6, we saw a May who had the personality of a Diva. I'm sure most of you remember the scene where May took of her clothing in front of Ash and Max. That's definitely slutty.**

 **In season 7, 8 and 9, we gradually see a much more matured,funny, food loving and a caring girl. People always use that latter May's personality in their stories. But the former May is also cannon!**

 **So yeah, MY MAY IS NOT OOC!**

 **ehm, sorry for wasting time. Hope you'll enjoy the chapter.**

 **A little heads up, this chapter will contain advanceshipping. BUT AMOURSHIPPING PARTS WILL COME SOON ENOUGH!**

* * *

Night had fallen on the busy Lumiose city. After another long day, people were slowly returning to their homes. The night was more beautiful than usual because the bright full moon took its place in the sky. The milky moonlight made everything glow with a divine radiance.

Five young friends were earnestly enjoying the night. They were currently sitting at a place in front of the training ground of the Pokémon Center. Many round tables were placed there.

It was mainly for travelers to relax and have friendly chats. Ash and his friends booked a table. They noticed some other people in nearby tables who were happily gossiping away.

Ash, Clemont and Bonnie gradually returned from their tour of South Lumiose. They actually returned before sunset. After having dinner, they were doing a little more catching up with Ash's' old friend. Clemonts' mind was rather busy thinking about the girl he met earlier.

Ash took a sip from the hot coffee he was drinking and gazed at the training ground. The day was fairly hot, but the night was the exact opposite. So, the hot coffee was actually doing a good job of keeping him warm.

Serena and May booked their places on the right and left sides of Ash. They were both busy distracting Ashs' attention from the other. Clemont couldn't help but to notice something strange about the scene.

Clemont put aside his thoughts about the girl and thought of starting a conversation. "So, May, how's it like? Being a top coordinator?"

May leaned back on her chair. "It was great at first. It was a time when you have fans, money, fame everything. But now, the effect has died down." The brunette said in a bored tone.

"Showoff..." Serena mumbled under her breath.

"You know May; I never got the chance to congratulate you for your victory at the two Grand Festivals." Ash said, feeling a down for not being the greatest of friends.

"Don't worry, Ash." May smiled. "Though, I have to say that I really missed you guys back then. I felt like my victory was missing something, something important. Then I realized, it was my friends…"

May paused for a moment, then again continued, "When I was holding the Ribbon Cup, I felt really empty inside. But I had to put on a smile for everyone…"

May sighed.

"With a friend, you laugh twice for happy things and cry half for sad ones." Clemont shared his words of wisdom.

Bonnie was very impressed, so were Serena and Ash. May just had a smile dancing across her face as she nodded her head in approval.

"Hey Ash, why don't tell May about some of my achievement?" Serena stated, rather than asked as she gave May a glare. She was getting tired of hearing Mays' blabbering.

May did the same thing and shot her own glare at the girl. Sparks of rivalry could be seen at their eyes. Clemont and Bonnie just looked at the girls and gulped.

May told Serena about her feelings towards the raven haired boy. Serena wasn't pleased. But, the events taking place after entering the Pokémon Center further intensified the hostility between them…

 **Earlier this afternoon**

"Hey May! Wait up!" Serena screamed at the brunette running ahead of her, but to no avail. So, finding no other way, she tried her best to keep up with her.

May ran and didn't even bother to look back. She was giggling.

She eventually stopped running. But then she realized that she was standing in their Pokémon Center room. She laid flat on one of the beds; her face facing the ceiling as she still had an unreadable smile.

At one point of time Serena entered the room. She leaned on the door of the room and panted like crazy. Shaking off the tiredness, she looked at the bed and saw May looking at her with that smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Serena asked after taking a seat next to the brunette.

"Don't know for sure…" May replied."But I'm feeling very happy."

"Why?" Serena asked blankly, trying to dig deeper into the brunette.

May giggled once more. "I've had many rivals over the years…" After a pause, she continued." But I never had a love rival before!"

Serena wasn't amused.

"Look May," Serena said as she put on a stern look. "I'm not going to let you have Ash."

Mays' giggle turned into a confident smirk, "I'd like to see you try…"

"He's mine you got it?! So you should keep your dirty paws off him!" Serena said; the volume of her voice slowly increasing.

"Dirty paws?" May said as she sat upright on the bed from her lying position. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb May! I saw what you did with that man just to get some ice-cream. Any person in pure love wouldn't ever do something like that!

I'm sure you don't even truly love him, do you?! In fact, you only want Ash to penetrate yo-"

Serena's' outburst came to a halt when May raised her hand and motioned her to stop. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she looked straight at Serena's' eyes.

"I understand what you're thinking Serena. Most people reading this story are thinking the same thing…so, I don't judge you."

"Serena blinked, "Uh…what?"

"You don't know what I've been through Serena. You won't believe the things I had to do to survive…" May said slowly to herself in an absent minded manner.

May said those words, but then was bothered at the thought that Serena might have heard it. She actually said those things because the situation brought them out. She was regretting it but when she looked at Serena's' persistent angry face, she understood that the girl didn't quite hear what she just said. So, she was glad.

"Serena, I came to Kalos for a reason and it isn't for a crappy Mega-stone. My Blaziken can already beat the shit out of anything that looks at her funny."

"SO WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Serena screamed but May kept on talking in her usual calm voice.

"For Ash." She simply stated.

"When I traveled with Ash, I always thought Ash was naïve and didn't understand anything about love….

But now I realize one thing. I was the naive one…" Her voice trailed off.

"He did all sorts of things for me. He cheered me on in my contests, saved my life many times and he always had a way to make me…smile." May frowned but then continued,

"When he talked with me, I always felt warm inside. When he wasn't around me, I felt…incomplete. His reassuring smiles made my heart dance in joy. Just being with him felt like I had all the happiness, the world could ever give me.

I fell in love with him."

May shook her head angrily and continued, "But I was too stupid to even realize my feelings…"

"When I met with him at Sinnoh, a friend of his told me confess my feelings. But I was oblivious to what she said. I wasted my chance then…

But this time…" May stated.

"I will win his heart and be his queen!" She finished in a rather dramatic manner.

Serena carefully listened to every word the girl just said. This made her think…

"Maybe her feelings aren't as weak as I thought." She thought. But she wasn't going to let a girl take Ash away. There was no way!

"What makes you think he's going to choose you over me!?" Serena got out. "We're childhood friends! So I have a better chance!"

"Childhood friend, my ass!" May shot back.

The brunette hastily pulled a small object from her fanny bag and held it near the girls face."Look at this."

Serena was confused as she eyed the object held in front of her. "What does a half ribbon have to do with anything?!"

"It's not just any half ribbon you bitch." May spat in a surprisingly calm voice. " It's a ribbon Ash and I won after we drew in a contest on the last day of our journey together. I have one half and Ash has the other. It is a sign of our everlasting relation. Nothing can come between this relation."

"Not even a childhood friend."

Serena was even more pissed. She pointed towards the blue ribbon on her dress. "Look at this ribbon May. You have a half ribbon you gave to him. This, May, is a full ribbon HE GAVE TO ME!"

May frowned. She should've seen that coming. She was going say something back in retaliation but Serenas' next sentence stopped her in her tracks…

"I'm sure Ash doesn't even have your ribbon with him now."

… … …

Hearing those words, May bit her lip in pure anger. As much as she wanted to convert the oral cat fight into a WWE world championship battle, she couldn't. She shook off all the frustrations and looked at Serena once more and extended her hand.

"This is the declaration of war Serena."

Serena also shook off her own anger and shook hands with the brunette.

"Yes May, this is war. May the best girl be winner of Ash's heart."

May actually cracked a smile and repeated Serena's last words, "May the best girl be the winner of Ash's heart.

 **Back to Reality…**

Ash looked to his left and then to his right and saw the two girls engaged in a glaring competition. Ash, being the clueless boy that he is, didn't know the reason behind the glaring. Though, he understood that, two of his best friends were fighting over something.

"Guys, is everything alright?"

Hearing Ash's voice calmed down the two girls.

"Yes Ash. Everything is fine." Serena said, taking her eyes off the brunette and looking the other way. May also did the same thing.

Clemont and Bonnie looked at each other. They clearly understood where this fanfiction was headed…

Bonnie decided to break the awkward silence between the friends, so she started a conversation.

"Hey May?"

May put on a sweet smile and acted like nothing had happened, "Yes Bonnie?"

"Well, you see…I've been reading a lot about contests recently and I've heard that coordinators have many cute Pokemon so… can I see you-"

"Say no more, dear Bonnie." May said and got up from her chair and grabbed, or rather tried to grab all her poke-balls from her fanny bag. One after another, she threw all the Poke-balls in the training ground.

"C'mon out everybody!" May yelled sweetly as red light from the pokeballs started taking the form of creatures.

Ash also got up from his chair and stood at the training ground. He looked with sparkling eyes as he saw the Pokémon and remembered most of them. Bonnie was almost squealing with joy as Clemont also looked interested.

Serena however, didn't give a shit.

The first Pokémon to be revealed was her starter Pokémon. The Blistering Fire-Fighting Hoenn starter, Blaziken.

Following Blaziken, next came her Kanto starters, Blastoise and Venusaur. May caught them when they were still in their first stage of evolution.

The next Poke-Ball revealed her ice type eevelution. It had an icy fox like appearance. This was her Glaceon; the very one which she evolved during her time in Sinnoh.

Soon, the last two Pokémon were also revealed. Ash eyed the two Pokémon but couldn't quite recognize them. The first one was a Hoenn native Pokémon. It had blue cotton like wings which gave her the appearance of a bird. It had a beautiful blue, majestic body.

Ash soon recognized the Pokémon as the same Altaria he saw in the magazine yesterday.

Ash wanted to look at the last Pokemon. But, before he could do it, he saw all of Mays' remaining Pokémon come running/flying towards him. Soon, Ash Ketchum found himself under the embrace of all the Pokémon.

Ash almost felt like he was being trampled by his own Pokémon back at Pallet. Ash chuckled and looked at the Pokémon. They were all glad to meet them. Ash also noticed that Altaria was snuggling close to him. Altaria didn't meet him before. So, Ash was rather surprised at the Pokémon's friendliness.

"Pika-Pi!" Pikachu greeted to which everyone gave out friendly cheers. Glaceon jumped out of nowhere and gave a little lick in his cheek which caused him to blush.

Serena looked surprised, "Wow, May's Pokémon really adore Ash." She thought."Looks like that Glaceon has a little crush on Pikachu…"

Then she looked at Bonnie, who was humping angrily.

"Hey no fair! I also want to be tickled by Mays Pokémon." Bonnie quickly ran and hugged the Blue cotton dragon, which earned her a nuzzle in return.

"Hey May, your Altaria is really friendly towards me. Have I met her before?" Ash asked.

"You certainly have, Ash" May grinned. "Try guessing."

Ash took a deep stare at the blue dragon. "She looks familiar…" Ash thought but suddenly realization hit him.

"No way!" Ash got out and looked at May, who only nodded. "It's been such a long time!"

"Care to enlighten us Ash?" Clemont said in a rather confused tone as Ash started, "Way back in our journey through Hoenn, we came across an injured Swablu."

Everyone listened intently. Even Serena, who wasn't paying much attention, looked at Ash from the corner of her eye.

Ash continued, "Its wings got hurt badly in a storm. Then, with a little magic from our friend Brock and with Mays' care, Swablu was healed.

But damaging the wing in the storm created a fear in her mind. The fear of flying.

Then May took care of her. She worked hard, day after day and helped her to get rid of the fear.

When Swablu was finally able to fly again, she went off with her flock."

May took over from Ash, "Later when I went through Hoenn, we both got united again. While passing through Lake May and I saw an Altaria sitting at the bank of the lake. I approached her and saw that, she was crying…"

Everyone looked surprised and looked at Altaria, who was silently looking at the moon.

May sighed, "To put it straight, my poor Altaria got ditched by her lover. So, I asked her to join me in my journey. This time, she didn't have anything holding her back, so here she is."

Serena instantly got up from her chair and hugged the dragon type, "You poor thing."

The dragon type hummed sadly.

May was surprised. She didn't expect her to show such kindness towards her Pokémon. May could also tell that the hug she gave Altaria was a honest one. She smiled.

"Hmm…"May thought, "Serena isn't a half bad girl."

Ash also felt sad and decided to join the rest of his friends to try to cheer up the dragon-type. But, a certain Pokémon caught the corner of his eye. It was standing further away from the other Pokémon.

Ash slowly approached the Pokémon and recognized it.

"This must be Mays' new Pokémon." Ash slowly said and eyed the Pokémon.

It was a Jhoto native Electric type. It stood on two legs and had two small arms. It had a yellow body and a strange tail. It was also smaller than the average of its size of its species.

Ash decided to start a conversation with the Pokémon. May noticed it and made her way towards Ash and her Pokémon. Clemont, Bonnie and Serena were too busy meeting her other Pokémon. Bonnie still couldn't decide which one of these Pokémon were the cutest!

Ash got down on his knee and extended his hand towards the nervous Electric-type. The Pokémon noticed May and did a short sprint and hid behind her leg.

"My Ampharos sure is a shy one, isn't he?"

Ash got up and dusted the dirt from his pants. "I'll say."

This time May got down in eye level with Ampharos and whispered, "He's a very good person, so try to get along, okay sweetie?"

"Amphaaaa" The Pokemon replied cheerfully.

"Besides you might just have to see him every day for the rest of life."May winked.

"Amphaa Amphaa" The Pokemon happily chirped as he ran back to Ash and started jumping. Seeing that Pikachu came down from Ash's shoulder and touched the other Electric-types tail with his own. They shared each other's electricity as it marked the beginning of a new friendship.

Clemont also joined Ash and May and admired her Ampharos.

"This is a really healthy Ampharos, May! I can tell, it's really well raised."

May smiled, "Thanks Clemont!"

"You know May?" Ash smirked, "You just got a compliment from an Electric type gym leader."

"Oh stop it Ash." Said an embarrassed Clemont as May kept on smiling.

"Hey May? I want to ask you something." Clemont asked, quickly getting over the embarrassment.

"Sure Clemont. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, you see, I never got the opportunity to see a contest performance before. So…"

"Yeah May, I haven't seen you perform in ages. So, please?" Ash pleaded.

"Sorry," May said as she closed her eyes and took a prideful stance,"A top coordinator like me doesn't perform at such random places."

… …. …

That statement had apparently drained out all the color of the two boys faces. They were having a hard time finding some words to speak.

Ash however, had a very disappointed look on his face.

May opened one eye and looked at the two gloomy faces in front of her. She couldn't handle anymore as she almost rolled in the ground in hysterical laughter.

The boys blinked.

"I was just kidding, silly! I would be more than happy to perform for you guys. But you should've looked at your faces!" May got out and continued on her laughing spree.

"He he...You got me on that one!" Clemont laughed sheepishly.

Ash's frown soon turned into a small smile,"For a moment I thought that title of Top Coordinator has changed the friend that I knew. But I'm glad I was wrong."

May also gave a sad smile in response,"Sorry if I made you think otherwise…"

Clemont smiled, "Ash, you and May both share a deep bond of friendship. I'm kinda jealous." Ash and May chuckled at gym leader's statement.

Soon, May called back Ampharos and started walking back to the remaining of her Pokémon.

One by one, she recalled all her Pokémon. Bonnie was having really fun with all the Pokémon. So, the fact that May recalled all of them didn't quite please her. Serena wasn't amused either.

"Oh C'mon May!" The little blonde whined,"Why'd you call them back?"

"Because…" May started but Ash came up from behind and took over, "Because, May is going to give us a contest performance."

Bonnie's eyes sparkled in excitement as Serena also got interested.

* * *

The group minus May sat at the table they were sitting prior to when May released her Pokémon. This time, they were all facing the training ground where the 'Princess of Hoenn' was going to perform.

May walked up to the center of the training ground. She stood there and gave a cute little twirl before throwing the Poke-ball in the air,

"Altaria! Take the stage."

Ash felt a gust of Nostalgia when he heard May utter those words. Then he saw the white energy of the Poke-ball take the form of the Dragon-type.

Altaria posed herself, as elegantly as her trainer, with closed eyes. When she opened her eyes, she gave her signature battle cry.

"Altaaariaaa!"

That cry was piercing. It was certainly piercing enough attract the attention all of the people sitting around the training ground. Many middle aged men and women halted their gossiping and took a moment to look at the source of the noise. They weren't disappointed.

The women found pleasure in seeing a well trained, graceful and healthy Altaria but the men found more interest at looking at the Altaria's hot trainer. They mumbled many perverted things which are better if not discussed…

May took a deep breath.

"Altaria!Mist!" She commanded with a soothing voice as her faithful Pokémon nodded.

Altaria opened her mouth and released a white colored smoke. It wasn't poisonous; rather it had a chilly and mysterious ring to it. Soon, the mist started to cover the entire ground as the spectators watched carefully.

After mere moments, a thick, white layer of icy cool fog covered the ground which made it impossible to see anything.

"Perish song…" An all too familiar sweet voice said from within the dense fog.

With that, the spectators heard a low pitched melody. This got their heart racing fast as they could feel a hint of fear mixed with anxiety working inside of them.

Dedenne, who was watching from Bonnie's fanny bag, couldn't take it anymore as he immediately hid inside for protection. Bonnie also clutched onto Clemont's hand in nervousness. Ash and Serena kept on watching. A pin drop silence covered the area.

The only sound that could be heard was just another command from the coordinator, "Now Altaria, Safeguard into Dragon dance!"

What the spectators saw next left the mesmerized. Inside of the dense fog, a green light started shining. If one looked close enough, they could see that it was Altaria who was glowing. Not only that, the Dragon-type also started moving its body in a rhythmic motion.

Inside the dense fog and the low pitched melody, Altaria looked enchanting. It was almost as if, the green glow along with the dance, acted as a ray of hope in the darkness.

Serena was beyond amazed. So were all the spectators.

"Brilliant choreography." The girl thought. "First creating a dark environment to tense out everyone's heart, then a soothing dance to calm everyone down."

Before Serena could think anything more, she was startled with another one of Altaria's piercing cries. Serena intently looked at the Pokémon.

Altaria stopped dancing. But her body was still glowing green. The mist was still quite thick. To finish up, Altaria opened her moth and released an orange ball of energy in the moonlit night sky.

"Draco Meteor…" Ash slowly muttered.

The orange ball of energy went to the dark sky and exploded, which somewhat gave the effect of fireworks.

These small balls of energy slowly crashed in the ground. While crashing, the heat of the meteors cancelled out the mist. But the impact of the meteors with the ground caused dust to cover the area. The energy of the Draco meteor even caused the dust to glitter brilliantly.

The spectators were at the edge of their seats. After moments, the glittering dust started clear down and everyone could see two figures standing. When the dust was completely gone, May and Altaria were seeing bowing down and showing their gratefulness to the audience.

… … …

Cheers of joy started rolling in the area. The people watching the performance started clapping. May did another short bow and thanked Altaria.

Ash, Clemont and Bonnie got out from their seats and ran to the brunette. Surprisingly, Serena also did the same thing.

"Wow May that was awesome!" Clemont exclaimed.

"Happy Happy Bonnie!" The youngest blonde squealed as May chuckled. She then recalled Altaria and looked at Ash and Serena.

"I expected nothing less from a top coordinator." Ash stated in a proud way. Serena was too excited to even notice that Ash praised the brunette.

She jumped in front of the girl in enthusiasm. "That was amazing May! How'd you learn to do that?"

May was rather surprised at the girls' enthusiasm. They declared war against each other and her she is now, acting like a fangirl.

May winked at Ash, "Well, I've learnt from the best." Ash laughed while scratching the back of his head.

Serena was a little surprised with the way she answered. It took her some moments to realize what she was doing. Seeing the awesome performance, she actually forgot about their rivalry for a moment. She sighed and started heading back inside the Pokémon Center.

Ash and May stood there; dumbfounded.

* * *

Ash rolled around in his bed. He was trying to get some sleep, but wasn't having any sort of luck. Pikachu however, was seeping calmly at the side of his pillow.

Ash rolled again. This time, he accidentally fell, face first on the floor. The raven haired boy shrieked out in pain and started rubbing his nose. When the pain died down, he looked around groggily.

The lights were out. It then suddenly came to his consciousness that it was the middle of the night. He stood up and saw Clemont, Bonnie and Serena sleeping peacefully in their respective beds. But, one bed was empty; Mays' bed.

The group rented a new room. May was with them now, so a room with four beds wouldn't work. So, this time they rented a room with five beds. This room was almost identical to the previous one. The only difference was that, there was an extra bed. Also, this room had a balcony.

Ash looked around but couldn't find May anywhere in the room. But then he felt a small gust of cold wind caressing his skin. He shivered a little and then noticed that the door of the balcony was open. He made his way towards it to close the door.

But when he stood near the door, he noticed a familiar brunette standing at the balcony. She was staring at the sky with a small frown in her face.

* * *

May looked at the moon. The moonlight gave her face a radiant glow. She just looked to beautiful, so divine… It wouldn't actually be an overstatement if she was called an angel.

Her hair was lying loose on her back. Well, almost except for some hair, which was tied to a long ponytail. She was wearing her pink pajamas. It was clear that she was also having a hard time getting some sleep.

May glanced at her small wrist watch.

"3 AM" she thought and leaned on the railing on the balcony and further intensified her gaze on the moon. She put her one hand on the pocket of her Pajama and played with the all too familiar ribbon staying inside. Then her mind wandered off to what Serena said.

"Ash must have it, I'm sure…" The brunette slowly muttered. "It's the sign of our friendship afterall…"

But all her thoughts were startled when she heard a familiar voice from behind her shoulder.

"Mind if I join you?"The raven haired boy asked.

"Ash!" May shrieked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I saw that you weren't in your bed so I…uh, don't worry, I'll leave." Ash got out and started heading back to the room. But as he turned and started walking, he felt a tug on his hand. Ash looked back and saw that it was May's soft hand.

"Don't go Ash." May smiled, "I could use some company."

Ash smiled back. He and May then together leaned on the railing and looked at the moonlit sky. Some minutes passed, but not a single word was exchanged between them. Almost an awkward silence was created, which none of them wanted. May's mind was still occupied with the thought of the ribbon. But then, Ash started a conversation.

"The world is a strange place, isn't it May?" The boy asked while looking at the moon. "I mean really, just a week ago if someone told me that we'd be standing at the Pokémon center balcony together, I would've never believed it."

May chuckled and nodded. But inside, she was nervous and her heart was beating really hard. Ash, not having the terracotta ribbon was a disturbing thought she couldn't endure.

"Should I ask him?" She kept on thinking as she noticed the atmosphere to be familiar. The environment was actually a lot like the time when she and Ash last brought the two pieces together.

The time was perfect, it's now or never. Her face was actually showing nervousness.

"May?" Ash asked her, noticing the nervousness on her face."Is everything alright?"

"Ash…" May got out and looked at the boy. She actually had to tilt her head up to look at him at the eye. This boy sure was tall…

"Do you still have this?" May finally said as she brought out the ribbon from her pocket. She held the ribbon in front of him. Her piece of the ribbon was still as good as new. It still shone exactly the way it shone six years ago. It goes without saying that she did a very good job taking care of it.

Ash took a look at the ribbon; recognizing it immediately. But soon, a guilty look came in his face.

Mays eyes widened in shock when he saw the look in Ash's face.

"Where's your ribbon Ash? Come on, bring it out. I want to see it." May got out in a shaky voice as her face showed anxiety. She held Ash's arm and shook it lightly.

"Come on Ash…the two pieces haven't united in a long time…please...Bring it out." The brunette almost begged.

Ash looked down; his raven black hair covering his eyes. He knew deep inside that he had to face this day.

When May came to visit him, he was beyond happy. In fact, he was so happy that his consciousness made him forget about facing this moment. But now, that moment had finally come…

"I'm sorry…" The boy only said. "I…I…I've lost it."

… … …

The poor brunette really couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt like her body was being burnt alive. No, doing that would cause far less pain than what she was experiencing now.

But, she…didn't…cry.

She still somehow maintained her calm self. Ash refused to look her in the eyes. He was too ashamed to do it. But May wasn't losing hope.

"Please tell me this is a joke Ash...It's not funny…"

But Ash's silence gave her all the answer she could ever get…

"You're not joking, are you Ash?" May said in an unusual calm yet cold voice, "You really did lose it…"

"That ribbon marked our friendship Ash. All the journey we had, all the adventures we've shared…all the moments we've spend together… that ribbon was a material form of it." This time the girl lost her temper, "IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN LOSE!"

She then said in a disappointed voice, "Guess I was wrong thinking that you treasured the ribbon like I did…"

The next thing Ash did took May by surprise. Ash hastily wrapped his arm around the brunette and took her in for a hug. He rested his head on her shoulder as drops of tears started to form in his eyes.

May's eyes widened in surprise. A small blush came across her beautiful moonlit face. But she understood the meaning of that hug. She understood that the boy felt guilty.

She accepted the hug; her anger gradually calming down. She could feel the warmth of his body in her skin, a warm and sensational feeling.

But she still wanted to know. So, she just whispered,

"Just tell me Ash, how did you lose it?"

Ash was still sobbing. He wiped off the water from his eyes and slightly coughed to clear his voice. Still hugging onto the brunette he replied,

"Team rocket tried to capture Pikachu and while saving him I fell in a lake. I didn't notice first, but then I later realized that the Terracotta ribbon fell from my pocket and got lost in the lake." Ash said as he also started to calm down. "I'm sorry May."

May somewhat understood the situation. She actually felt guilty.

"I'm also sorry Ash. I shouldn't have yelled at you before listening to what you had to say...I should've known that you wouldn't ever throw away our friendship like that. "May gave a sad smile.

"Team Rocket…" She then muttered harshly.

But then one thing crossed her mind. She broke the hug and gazed in his auburn eyes. Those eyes, the milky moonlight gave it a mysterious look.

"Ash, why did you have that ribbon at your pocket?"

"May…" The boy began, "I cherished that half ribbon just as much as you do yours. I always reminded me about you…"

May's heart skipped a beat after hearing that.

"I always missed you. So, when I held that ribbon, it…It actually felt like, you were near me…"Ash finished with a goofy smile.

If May's heart was pounding with anxiety before, it was almost bursting out of her chest due to the enthusiasm she felt. Those words created an excitement in her, an excitement she hadn't felt in a long time…

May just smiled and looked at the boy.

But what none of the two teens noticed was that another honey blonde haired girl was eavesdropping on the conversation. She frowned and silently returned to her bed to sleep.

* * *

 **On the Pokemon center roof~**

* * *

"I told you not to worry." A hooded boy said as he talked in his cell phone. "Don't worry; your work will be done."

The boy sat at the roof of the Pokemon Center. His sister sitting close by. How they got on top of the Pokemon Center; not even the author knows…

Both the brother and sister had black clothing. The boy slowly removed his hood and revealed his face. Just like his sister, he also had red ruby eyes. He also had gray hair which were shining vividly under the moonlight.

"Yeah, they're now currently under me, literally." The boy joked as his sister cracked a small smile. Then he heard the person on the phone say something, which brought back seriousness in the boy's face.

"As long as you have the money in check, nothing will go wrong." The boy said and looked at his sister, who was now polishing a small knife.

"I understand." Pausing for a moment, he continued, "It's good to work with you…

Mr. Drew Hayden."

* * *

 **Fifth Chapter; done and dusted.**

 **Phew...I had the hardest time of my life while writing that contest part. I hope you liked it. Definitely not gonna write another contest scene in the near future XD**

 **So, I hope this chapter explained about May's true feelings towards Ash. If not, then I'm sorry. That's the best I could do...**

 **Well, so far in my story, I've tried to update once in a week. But I'm sorry to say that, it's not gonna happen from now on. I will be incredibly busy in the coming months. But I will try to update once or twice a month. I really love to write, but I have a tight schedule ahead of me. I'll actually be lucky if I get one hour to write everyday...**

 **Yeah. If you have any ideas about the story, don't hesitate to PM me. I have a clear view on how I'm going to finish this story, but the middle parts are gonna create problem. I'll gladly listen to any ideas you give.**

 **Lastly~**

 **If you know what's good for you, don't forget to leave a review! (Yeah! that actually rhymed!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chap 6:**

 **Hello wonderful readers and welcome to the sixth chapter of 'A Fake Mask' Quite some time has passed since I posted the last chapter, hasn't it? more than two weeks, to be exact. Sorry for the long wait, but it's sad to say that same scenario will be seen for the time being.**

 **Anyway, not many reviews in the last chapter...which is quite sad :( Not many amourshipping fans reviewed either. I'll warn you guys about something, Advanceshipping fans brace yourselves for Amourshipping moments and vice-e-versa. So, prepare yourselves see shipping moments of the ships you don't support. *Evil grin***

 **I would like to give a shout-out to ASD Pokemon Fan, 2Snipers, Bulbreon, BlackrubyADV, Satosere123 and some random guests for their wonderful reviews. A special thanks for Bulbreon for his continuous support and another special thanks to ASD Pokemon Fan for always pointing out my mistakes :) You guys are the best!**

 **Now that that's done, Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to leave a review. And if you don't have an account, at least leave a guest review to let me know that someone is actually reading my story. Believe me when I say it, it's really motivating.**

* * *

Darkness had fallen on the sky as everything was embodied with darkness. The only source of light in that darkness were the street lights, which gave soft glow and somewhat removed the darkness.

Thick clouds were seen in the sky, covering the other possible source of light. Because of it, when someone looked at the sky, they could only see one thing; infinite darkness. Soon, from these thick clouds, drops of water showered down.

May Maple ran. The Raining slowly intensified but she just kept on running; her vision sternly gazing at the path ahead. Why she was running? She wasn't even sure herself…

Drops of water poured down from her beautiful face as she looked at the path ahead of her.

She was running through the path of a city. Due to the darkness, it wasn't clear. But the area lighted with the street lights helped May to recognize her surroundings.

The city looked…a lot like…Petalburg city. Yes, it was Petalburg. All the houses, all the shops and the road were very familiar to the brunette. Unquestionably, it was Petalburg.

But there wasn't a single person was in sight. Even the doors and windows of the houses were closed shut.

Only two sounds were heard in the dark night. One was the sound of rain drops crashing in the ground. The other was the sound of her footsteps as she ran.

She continued running. She recognized most of the houses she saw. Every single detail of the surrounding place was very well known to her. Why wouldn't it be? She was born here in this city after all.

Her vision suddenly became blurry. She found herself completely soaking wet. So she guessed that the rain water entering her eyes might have blurred her vision. As she kept on running, her right hand found its way towards her eyes. She wanted to wipe the water off her face. But surprisingly, she found the water near her eyes to be…warm?

There was only one explanation to this…the water came out from her eye. She was crying…

But why she was crying, she didn't knew either. She only kept on running.

For another unknown reason, May looked back but she instantly regretted doing that. What she saw made her mouth go agape in disbelief…

She noticed her house; the same house in which she was born in. All the good memories she had with her family were stored in that house. The memories of being annoyed by her brother, the memories of eating her mother's mouth watering meals, memories of watching her father defeat challenger after challenger and the memory of when she decided to go on a journey…were all stored there.

That memory filled house…it was on fire.

May wanted to stop and run back to her house…but she couldn't. Her feet kept on dragging her away from there.

One thing surprised her more…It was heavily raining…so, how was her house still burning? The rain water should've extinguished the fire, but instead, her house kept on burning with a brighter flame. It was almost as if, the rain water was aiding the fire in burning.

It didn't make any sense…Nothing did. But yet, everything was happening. Her house was burning and all she was doing was running away.

Soon, as she kept running forward while on looking behind, she noticed that house was fading away from her line of sight. Only the sparks of the burning fire could be seen in the horizon.

May shifted her gaze and focused on the path ahead. Eventually, while running, she slipped and crashed on the rough road. It was very slippery due to the rain.

She sat at the place where she fell and emotionlessly looked at her elbow. It was bleeding. Drop after drop; the blood, mixed with rainwater was slowly dipping from her elbow into the ground. But…she couldn't feel any pain…

She noticed only one thing ahead of her; the dark endless road…

Her vision became more blurry and soon, her eyelids became heavy. After reaching its limits, her poor eyelids closed shut and next, May's motionless body slowly fell on the ground...

* * *

The brunette flicked opened her eyes. Everything still looked quite blurry but she noticed that everything was brighter compared to the time when she went unconscious. She groggily looked around and saw one thing; her Glaceon looking at her with worried eyes.

Bright rays of sunlight entered the room through the door of the balcony. Her vision slowly returned and she could see everything now. She was lying comfortably in her bed. She actually sighed in relief.

It was just a nightmare.

May was the only human in the room. The five other beds were empty. In fact she and Glaceon were the only living souls in the room. May guessed that everyone was in the lobby.

Then her eyes met with the persistent worried eyes of her loyal Pokémon.

"Glace~?" the Pokémon chimed in a questioning voice.

"I had that same nightmare Glaceon…" May said in a defeated voice. "I don't know why, but the bad memories of that day still try to haunt me in my dreams…"

Glaceon did a short jump and landed on Mays lap. She then nuzzled her cheeks with her trainer in an attempt to cheer her up.

That apparently worked, because May was now giggling.

May energetically got off her bed. She called Glaceon back to her Pokeball.

"Maybe Ash and the others' are waiting at the lobby." She slowly mumbled under her breathe.

She then quickly went to her luggage and pulled out a new outfit, her shampoo and her toothbrush and skidded to the bathroom to complete her morning routine.

* * *

"Ash I'm hungry…" Bonnie whined."Can we go to the cafeteria?"

Ash and his friends were sitting in the lobby. They woke up quite early, well, everyone other than May. Serena wasn't talking with the raven haired boy for some reason and the raven haired dumbass still doesn't have the brains to notice that he's being ignored.

"You're not the only one who's hungry Bonnie." Ash said while frantically rubbing his stomach. "We'll go as soon as May wakes up."

Bonnie sighed as Clemont tried to change the subject.

"Hey Bonnie, wasn't May's last night's performance awesome?"

Hearing that Bonnie apparently snapped out of her trance of whining and spoke with sparkling eyes,

"That was the coolest thing ever!"

Clemont and Ash laughed at the little blondes quick mood swing. Ash then noticed that Serena wasn't paying any attention to anything. She was absent mindedly looking at Pokémon Center watch. She was in deep thought…

"Everything alright Serena?" Ash asked casually.

Serena slightly jumped in surprise as she shifted her gaze from the watch and looked at Ash reluctantly. However, she didn't make any eye contact.

"Yea, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She said in a depressed voice and shifted her gaze back to the watch.

Ash didn't find that answer quite natural. But before he could ask anything back, a familiar voice startled them.

"Hey guys!" May greeted cheerfully as the group minus Serena looked at her.

Similar to last night, May had a ponytail as two bangs of bouncy hair lied on her two sides. Her hair also was looking silky and shiny; probably because of the shampoo.

She was wearing a sleeveless orange buttoned tanktop and a black skirt.

"Took you long enough." Ash said sarcastically. Serena still refused to look at her.

"Don't be a jerk Ash, you know I need my beauty sleep." May said triumphantly and posed her body as Ash rolled his eyes. Bonnie snickered.

"Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

Ash and the others nodded and made their way towards the Cafeteria of the Pokémon Center. May, Clemont and Bonnie walked ahead. Ash stayed in the middle and Serena dispassionately followed on.

Ash couldn't help but to find something awkward with the picture. He looked at a depressed looking Serena, and then looked at May; who was talking with Clemont.

"Something's definitely wrong. Serena's been acting strange since May got here and May…something's definitely wrong with her… " Ash's mental thought trailed off. He thought about the events taking place last night.

"I don't ever want to see her sad, but…during last night's conversation, I expected tears from her eyes. I mean if she was the old May, she'd definitely cry…" Ash thought and kept on looking at May.

But before long, they found themselves at the Cafeteria.

The five friends sat at a table. Ash and May sat at one side. Serena, Clemont and Bonnie sat at the other.

They looked around and found that it was a fairly big room. Unlike most Pokémon Center cafeteria's, this one was much more hygienic.

Many people were eating there. Ash actually recognized some of the people from last night. They were actually staring at May with big grins. It was pretty obvious that they hadn't seen such a contest performance in a long time. But then they minded their own businesses.

There was also a counter at the corner of the room. A man was taking orders and looked to be quite busy. There was quite a long line there.

When they came to the Pokémon center yesterday, there weren't much people staying there. But today was a much different picture.

"I'm so hungry I can eat a Tauros. " May announced while stretching her limbs.

Clemont chuckled as Ash said with a grin, "I'm so hungry, I can eat two Taurosses."

May looked at Ash with a raised eyebrow and teasing look, "Is that a challenge?"

Ash smirked, "Something like that."

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

"Challenge accepted." May smirked back.

Clemont looked interested. He never had the guts to stand against Ash's appetite. No one had.

Bonnie, being the hyperactive girl that she is, sprang up from her chair.

"Do you think you can win May!?" she exclaimed."No one eats more than Ash."

May smiled, "Dear Bonnie, you haven't seen me in action yet."

With that, a friendly debate began between Ash and May on who had the larger appetite. The siblings were amused. Serena however, was impassive. She ignored everything happening on the other side of the table as silently stared at a window while weighting her face on her hand.

Clemont glanced to his left and was rather surprised to see Serena in such a state. In their entire journey together, he never saw Serena like this. He guessed that Ash and May had something to do with it. So he decided to keep quiet for the time being.

"Okay guys, May and I are going to the counter. What will you guys eat?"

"Orange juice! Orange juice!" Bonnie announced.

"I'll have salad." Clemont said as Pikachu jumped in front of Ash,

"Pika Pi!" he said and gestured something with his paws.

No one needed to have second thoughts to guess what Pikachu wanted.

"Orange juice, Salad, ketchup. Okay." Ash noted down mentally but noticed that Serena hadn't ordered.

"Serena? What do you want?"

Ash asked but the girl was more interested in staring at the window.

"Serena?!"

"Wha-what?" Serena blurred out and looked at Ash with an embarrassed look."Sorry, I spaced out a little."

Ash smiled but May raised an eyebrow. She also noticed the performer's strange behavior since morning. Before she could say something, Serena started speaking.

"I would like salad please." Serena got out sounding as if she was completely happy. However, nobody other than Ash was fooled by it.

Ash nodded and happily went to the counter with Pikachu; May following close behind. Bet before going she gave Serena a strange look.

Clemont looked while Ash, May and Pikachu left the table and waited at the back of the long line in front of the counter; leaving him, Bonnie and Serena the only ones there.

"Serena." He said with a stern voice as he shifted his gaze from the two friends and looked at the performer."Tell me what's wrong."

But Serena just impassively kept on looking at the window and gave the blonde haired boy no reply. Bonnie looked at Serena with eyes which expressed worry.

Clemont was sure. Something was definitely wrong.

He put his head on the performers shoulder, startling her. She jumped back a little looked at him and Bonnie with surprised eyes.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She got out as she tried to disguise the depression from her voice.

"What's wrong Serena?" Clemont asked strictly as his sister also added, "Yeah Serena! Tell us what's wrong. You don't normally act like this!"

"Don't worry guys. It's nothing." She faked a laugh.

But the siblings weren't the ones to believe that.

"It's about Ash, isn't it?" the youngest blonde stated boldly, surprising Serena.

 **… … …**

Serena thought for a moment and understood that there was no point in evading it anymore, not that she could do it anyway.

Serena simply nodded; this time, the depression was clear on her face.

Clemont fixed his glasses and said seriously, "What did he do…?"

Serena sighed and looked at the long line in front of the counter and spotted the two teens. She sighed once again as she saw Ash laugh while talking with May.

Then she started, "No Clemont. He didn't do anything…"

"I know you two are well aware of my feelings towards him…But last night, something got me thinking." She continued after pausing a bit, "Ash and May…they look so happy with each other…I mean, look at him. I haven't seen him that happy… ever."

Clemont fixed his glasses as Bonnie listened carefully.

"As much as I hate to say it, I think I should let May and Ash be as they want." She sighed once again and continued,"I only want to see Ash happy. And for that, I'm ready to sacrifice my own happiness too."

"Even if I have to let go of my feelings…"

"No Serena…" Clemont said rigorously. Serena shook off her gloominess and looked at him.

"I've seen Ash enough to know what he feels inside. He might be dense, very dense…But I know that he loves all of his friends equally. He couldn't ever be happy knowing that any of his friends are in misery."

Bonnie took over from her, "So you can't make him happy by being sad!"

Serena wanted to say something, but Clemont cut her off.

"He is laughing and having fun with May. But he's doing all of it considering her as a friend, nothing more. So, you have your opportunity…

If you can win his heart, he'll love you and he'll be happy. May will be trying to do the same thing. So don't count yourself out of this competition yet!"

That short speech by the two siblings has lit up a candle of hope inside the honey blonde haired girl.

She almost shed a tear, but then she smiled. Clemont could easily understand that it was a genuine and relieved smile.

Serena got up from her chair and took the blonde haired boy in for a big friendly hug. It was a FRIENDLY hug; no GeekChickshipping hint whatsoever.

Clemont was almost having a hard time breathing, but he didn't care anymore when he heard Serena speak.

"Thank you Clemont, Bonnie. Both of you! I'm really grateful. I'm going to win Ash's heart for you guys." Serena loosed her hug and sobbed.

Bonnie also got off her chair and went near Serena and wiped the tears from her eyes. Serena smiled, Bonnie smiled back.

Bonnie got back to her chair and Serena also sat down.

"You know Serena," Clemont said, "I asked my father about you and Ash…"

"What!" was the sound made by Bonnie and Serena together. Bonnie wasn't around when they had this conversation.

"Why'd you do that?!" Serena almost shouted out and looked at boy for answers. Bonnie didn't say anything, but her face clarified that Serena said what she wanted to say.

"Well you see…" Clemont cleared his throat. "I knew about your feelings quite some before. But I was confused with my role in it. So I asked his opinion."

"aand?" Bonnie asked eagerly.

"He told me that I should do what my heart tells me to do!" he said proudly, but Bonnie was actually quite surprised knowing that his father could actually say something like that.

"Right now, my heart tells me that I should help you to be with Ash."

Serena slightly blushed and smiled. That was the thing only a true friend would say. She felt really happy and was about to say something but suddenly she looked the other way acted like nothing had happened. Clemont found that strange but suddenly noticed that Ash and May were back with their breakfast.

The first thing May noticed after reaching the table was Serena's face. She was looking…better. May was glad.

Ash and May put their breakfast on the table. Clemont and Serena got their salad and Bonnie got her juice. Pikachu also got his ketchup.

But it was Ash and Mays breakfast which made them look with big eyes.

In that table, was placed, 12 bowls of ramen…

Ash and May sat at their chairs and shot playful glares at each other.

Ash eating this much wasn't a big surprise to them. But the fact that someone had the guts to compete against Ash's eating capabilities…was way beyond belief.

"May are you sure you can eat this much?" Serena asked frantically. May was actually taken back by her talking. This was the first time in this whole morning that she heard her talking.

"Just wait and see!" May winked playfully at the girl.

The conversation they had, made Serena understand one thing. Falling in love with someone wasn't a crime. And falling in love with an old friend was exactly what she had done too. So, she it wasn't logical to be mad at her.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Bonnie sprang up from her chair and stood between Ash and May. She held a spoon in front of her mouth, using it as a microphone.

"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to this intense food eating competition between Ash and May." Bonnie spoke in a girlish tone and acted like a commentator.

This got everyone giggling.

Bonnie shrugged it off and continued, "On the left side we have our defending champion Ash Ketchum." She said, motioning towards Ash. Then she motioned towards May and said, "And on the right side, we have May Maple, the challenger."

"Are the competitors ready?" Bonnie raised a hand and inclined the spoon further towards her mouth.

The two competitors nodded.

"Begin!"

With that announcement, the competition began.

Clemont, Serena and even Bonnie almost shivered in fear. What they saw in front of them was so scary that it could even put the scary level of 'The Conjuring' into shame…

Ash took a bowl of ramen and within mere seconds, finished it and threw the empty bowl to his side to put it out of its misery. May also did the same. Two ferocious teens finished away bowls of ramen as if they were killing lv3 Ratatas with lv100 Charizards.

The three other people could only watch in utter amazement as piles of empty ramen bowls gathered in front of them.

But since this was a competition, there had to be a winner. And in this case, a raven haired teen came up on top. He just barely finished his sixth bowl of ramen a split second faster than May had done hers.

Ash and May finished the bowls and took in a deep breath. Ash then looked at Bonnie, who was still shocked after seeing the monstrosity.

Seeing Ash stare at her, she suddenly remembered that it was her cue. She did another small jump and blurred out,

"A-And the winner is Ash Ketchum!"

With that the Serena and Clemont started cheering for Ash, which caused him to laugh sheepishly. The kept their voices in check, so the other people having their breakfast were not disturbed.

Serena and Clemont couldn't help but to cheer for May as well. This was the first time they saw someone come this close to winning in an eating competition against this eating raven haired demon.

May smiled; stretched her limbs and stood up; clearly tired from the eating competition. She blushed a little seeing Ash's goofy smile while he was talking with the others.

She then looked at Ash seductively and licked her lips with her tongue. Then she mumbled, "I have my appetite set for something else…"

* * *

"So guys, where do we go now?" The raven haired boy asked no one in particular as he once again carried May's luggage like a slav- I mean, gentleman. Pikachu was comfortably sitting on the top of his hat.

After the eating competition, Ash and May gave some time for their other friends to eat. After finishing breakfast, they went back to their Pokémon center room. The group packed all belongings, thanked the Nurse Joy and headed off.

They were now currently heading towards their next destination.

Serena pulled out her Poke-gear and checked her map. "If we go straight from here, we'll reach the subway station." Serena said, her eyes still fixed on her map." It'll be long three hour journey to West Lumiose. From there, the dock is only at 30 minutes walking distance." She explained.

"So, I guess we have a lot of time in our hands, correct?" Clemont said as Serena replied, "According to Sophie, the S.S. Anne, will set sail first thing tomorrow morning. So yeah, a lot of time."

"Then we can hang around for a while!" May said as Serena kept on looking at her map.

"Well, there is a huge shopping district at West Lumiose." Serena said, her eyes finally moving from the map. "If we don't waste time here, we'll have tons of time to have fun there!"

Clemont and Ash weren't quite pleased with the word, shopping district but decided to nod anyway.

"What are we waiting for?" May suddenly jumped, pumping her fist in the air. "West Lumiose, here we come!" With that, she started running.

"Hey that's my line May!" Ash complained and then ran behind the brunette.

The three other members of the group giggled and followed their two friends, well most of them tried anyway.

 **… …. ….**

After what seemed like mere moments, the group reached the subway station. Ash and May became awestruck seeing the station. It had quite a reputation worldwide.

The siblings had lost count of how many times they came here before. Serena also came here couple of times before with her mother. So, they knew how it looked.

It was built up on a huge area; much like the Lumiose airport. They entered the lobby and its fanciness, didn't cease to disappoint the two new visitors. It was a huge room with lots of fancy chairs. It could be easily said that each chair cost a lot more than what a regular chair should cost. May people were idly sitting there, reading magazines and stuff; anything to pass time until their train would leave.

The walls were made of something which neither of the teens could identify. Neither did they have the urge to. It looked fancy and that's all the cared.

They made their way to the corner of the lobby where the ticket selling counters were accessible.

"Hello everyone," A well suited man asked politely." How may I help you?"

"Well, "Clemont said, "We would like 5 tickets to West Lumiose."

The man did a gentle chuckle."My, you travelers are extremely lucky."

The group stood there dumbfounded at the man's words. Clemont began to speak up, "What do you mean sir?"

The man smiled gently, "Well, it just so happens that the last train to West Lumiose will be leaving in 20 minutes."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

"Lucky break." Ash muttered.

Meanwhile, the man handed their tickets to the passengers. Clemont did a short bow to the man in appreciation as he smiled.

"So, should we wait at the lobby?" Ash asked while walking back from the ticket counter.

Everyone sent out a chorus of approval, but a certain brunette had other ideas. She got in front Ash and put on a playful look. "Why don't we check out our seats?"

The others started considering the idea as Bonnie spoke up first, "Sure! It'd be fun!"

Then, according to May's plan, they left the lobby. They happily made their way to the place where the trains were located.

Serena took her ticket in her hand. It had a greenish color with some unnecessary writings which she didn't care about. However, the writing on the corner perked up her interest.

"3-C" she mouthed and looked at the trains.

The trains were assembled in serials. One beside the other. Every single train looked same, but the special features about each of them were the fact that, each had specific numbers written on it. The serials weren't arranged. Some numbers were missing.

Clemont guessed that the reason was because those trains weren't on this station.

After some moments of searching, they found their train. A big red '3' in front of the train clarified it. After a collective squeals and cheers, they entered the train; but not before showing their tickets to the conductor.

After some more searching, they found their room. Just like everything else in the subway station, even their room was fancy. There was almost space for 20 people to easily sit there.

Ash finally put down Mays luggage and put his own afterwards. Serena Clemont and Bonnie put their own bags at a corner. Dedenne jumped from Bonnie fanny bag and comfortably sat at a table.

"Wow! this is amazing!" May screamed and jumped on a seat. Bonnie also followed May and jumped in another seat. The content faces they had showed that the seats were very comfy.

As Bonnie jumped on her seat, she felt something tingling inside her.

"Hey Clemont!" she said in a demanding voice which caused her brother to look at her. "I wanna go to the toilet!"

Clemont first felt confused as to why Bonnie would tell her something like that. But look on her face made it clear that he needed to escort her to the toilet…

The blonde haired boy sighed. He got off from his seat and looked at her sister, "Fine…Let's go…"

As he started walking out from the train, he remembered something,

"Hey guys," he said while turning back, getting the other's attention. "There's a museum in this subway station, wanna go there?"

Hearing this Ash and May almost sprang up from their chairs. Serena wasn't interested much.

I've gone there before." Serena said with a bored tone. "When we came here before, my mother always took me ther-"

Before the girl could finish, the other girl spoke up, "Great! Then you can guard our luggage!"

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

"Wha-"Serena tried to say, but was once again cut off by the brunette.

"Aw, you're so sweet Serena! Thanks!"May squealed.

But inside her mind, she was smirking devilishly, "Too easy…"

Inside the performers mind, she was slapping her forehead; six times per second. "Me and my big mouth…"

She then looked at Clemont and gave him a death glare. The boy gulped and mouthed the word "sorry" to her. He then looked at May and gave a competitive smile, which she didn't notice

"She's good." He mumbled."She's very very good."

Bonnie was equally impressed by the brunette's quick thinking. But Ash, as always, remained oblivious to everything happening around him…

"We'll be headed off then!" May said in a sing song voice, but the performer only sat on her seat and looked at a different direction with a gloomy face.

With that the group minus Serena started to leave. Clemont and Bonnie frowned. They understood they gave May an opportunity…

"Wait, I think I should stay here." A certain raven haired boy said which caught everybody off guard. Everybody looked at him with surprised faces. But he continued,

"I don't think we should leave Serena alone." Ash said, sending the honey blonde performer a warm smile. "I mean really, she's our friend and I don't think I'm gonna have much of fun knowing that a friend of mine is sitting alone in a train and guarding our luggage."

"You guys go on ahead." he said and sat in a seat beside where Serena was sitting."I'll stay with Serena."

Those words made Serena's heart dance with delight. She was feeling a strange sort of happiness inside her. Ash was a romantically illiterate guy. But still, the small things he did made people really touched. This was just one of the many reasons why Serena loved the boy.

May just understood that Ash unintentionally turned the game around Serena's favor and put her in a disadvantage. But she smiled and looked at the boy.

"Of course, how can I forget?" she thought, "Ash always puts friendship above everything else."

The two siblings also couldn't help but to crack up a grin.

Serena also looked at Ash and started thinking,

"Maybe Clemont and Bonnie were right. I really do have a chance…."

* * *

Having left Ash and Serena alone at the train, May, Clemont and Bonnie made their way through the lobby. May still felt disturbed at the thought that Serena and Ash were alone, but then she shrugged it off.

The three of them were having a little friendly chat as May was telling them how she always liked to travel around the world. The siblings listened happily, nodding occasionally. But they were having different thoughts of whether they should consider her as an enemy or not. They were on Serena's side after all…

After passage of sometime, they came to an end of the lobby where the toilets were at the right and the museum was at the left.

"We don't have much time May. So be sure not to take much time in the museum." Clemont informed as the girl nodded.

"Sure. Same goes for you two. Don't take much time in the toilet." May laughed and started walking towards the museum.

Clemont sweat dropped. What sort of joke was that? Why would he take time in the toilet? That was absurd. But he shrugged it off and headed towards the toilet with a snickering Bonnie at his side.

As soon as they saw the ladies washroom, Bonnie started running. Clemont silently waited outside.

He waited…and waited. From the outside of the toilet he could easily see the lobby. Those expensive chairs and all the people. The blonde gym leader got bored and started counting people.

"1…2…3….39" He counted. "Hmmm..Bonnie taking a long time in there."

Then his spectacled eyes darted towards the huge clock on the lobby. His horrified face clarified that the boy wasn't happy with what he saw on the clock…

"Oh no…this is bad!" He suddenly got out.

He faced towards the entrance of the Ladies washroom and panicked. "Bonnie get out! We have only 5 minutes to reach the train!"

Saying that, he didn't waste a second before bashing inside the ladies toilet. When he did enter, he was greeted with four girls who didn't ever see before. They looked at him with curiosity. It took them 2 seconds to finally understand that…there was a guy in the ladies washroom.

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

"AAAAAAAAH" was the chorus of the sounds the girls were screeching.

The poor boy was temporarily feeling deaf. He wasn't able to hear anything; neither could he concentrate on looking what was ahead of him. So, he closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands.

Finally when the screeching ceased, he slowly removed his hand and opened his eyes. The thing which saw first was the girls. Their faces were looking relieved, but they were looking behind them. Following their gaze, Clemont also looked behind him and… he wasn't smiling.

Two security guards.

"What seems to be the problem here?" one of them asked with a stern voice which sent shivers down the blonde's spine. That guard was almost twice of his height.

"This icky guy barged inside the ladies washroom!" One girl informed as the guard raised an eyebrow.

"Trespassing eh? " He said and smirked. "You can do all the trespassing you want…in jail."

"Wait! I'm not trespassing!" He got out without thinking and then mentally slapped himself. He has indeed barged inside the ladies washroom. His genius mind started thinking of a brilliant excuse but nothing was coming…

"Of course…" He face brightened. "I just need to tell him the truth."

But before he could utter a single word, one guard tackled him to the ground and held his arms behind his back as the other guard handcuffed him…

"N-No…There's been a misunderstanding!" the boy stuttered, almost on the verge of ruining his pants. "I came here to get my sister!"

None of the persons gave a shit and the boy's whimpering.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." One guard said in a bored tone, pulled him up and pushed him away. Clemont was feeling confused…Seconds ago he was here calling his sister and now he was going to jail?.

"What will happen to Ash and Serena? And for heaven's sake, who goes to jail for trespassing in a washroom?"He kept on thinking helplessly as he walked ahead with handcuffs and two oversized guards behind him…

Well, he apparently forgot that he was in a fanfiction and the author can do anything for the convenience of his plot. Guess he wasn't as brilliant as everyone thinks he is…

Anyway, after some seconds, Bonnie came out of the toilet and happily skidded outside the washroom. But he couldn't find the person she came here with. She looked around left and right,

"Umm…Clemont!?"

* * *

 **At the museum before the incident**

* * *

May almost gasped with what she saw in front of her eyes. The museum room was huge with sparkly tiles and not to mention the rare and ancient things which were on display. The room was really packed. All the people who weren't sitting on the lobby were here.

May walked around. She looked at the golden train models which were on display. At first she looked with great interest, but later felt bored because of the lack of company she had.

Then her mind again shifted off and started thinking about the boy and the girl she left behind back at the train.

"Oh Ash…" she thought and absent mindedly stood beside an ancient flower vase with plastic flowers. She frantically picked up a flower and looked at it. It had a lot of petals.

Holding it at her left hand, she ripped out a petal and threw it at the ground,

"He loves me…"

"He loves me not…" she said silently, ripping out another flower. Then she kept on ripping flower after flower and kept on saying,

"He loves me…"

"He loves me not…"

"He loves me…"

"He loves me not…"

"May I know what you're doing miss?!" A deep voice said, startling the brunette out of her petal ripping session. She looked up and saw a female security guard giving her a hard glare.

"For destroying museum property, you might be arrested miss." The woman said gesturing towards the flower.

May gulped nervously…She was in trouble. She could feel it. If this was a male guard, she could use her strongest weapon, but luck wasn't on her side today.

"He he…" she laughed nervously, hoping to ease off the woman's anger.

But she did not laugh…

She then hastily pointed her finger towards the ceiling and squealed,

"Look! Tom Cruise! flying on a spaceship!"

"WHERE? WHERE!?"

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

But when the woman looked back where the brunette was supposed to be…she was nothing but a cloud of dust. She could pursue her, but the presence of all the people in the museum…made her have second thoughts.

Meanwhile the brunette had a triumphant smirk on her face as silently ran out of the museum door towards the lobby. But just as she was going out of the museum, she noticed a girl looking at her intently. She was the same age as her, but a little short but her red ruby eyes were piercing through the brunette.

May felt a little awkward at first, but shrugged it off and headed towards the toilet.

No sooner had she reached the toilet, she noticed a little blonde haired girl with frowned eyes, looking around. May approached the girl.

"Hey Bonnie, where's Clemont?"

* * *

"Hey Ash?" Serena asked, the boy sitting beside her. "May, Clemont and Bonnie haven't returned yet."

Ash just gave two bowls of Pokémon food, one to Dedenne and the other to Pikachu. Within the time they were sitting in the train, Ash and Serena decided to feed their Pokémon; much to the dismay of my dear amourshipping fans.

"Yeah, I'm getting worried." The raven haired boy said; his attention now towards the performer. The train might leave any moment. "I think we should look for them."

Ash got up from chair, but then the door of their room suddenly shot open. Four bulky guys with pissed off faces entered the room. Totally neglecting the presence of Ash and Serena, they made themselves comfortable in the room. The room was quite big, so accommodation wasn't a trouble.

Four of the guys were bald and were wearing a perfume which gave a strange smell due to their sweat . Serena looked at them pure disgust.

Ash looked confused. He slowly approached one of the guys and started a conversation.

"Excuse me?"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT, WORM?" one of them spat.

Ash kinda flinched at the name he was being called, but decided it would be wiser to overreact.

"Well, a-actually we booked this room. S-so, may I know what you good people are doing here?" Ash stuttered as Serena sweat dropped.

"LISTEN TO ME WORM!" that man screamed at Ash's face. Ash felt a little disgusted. This man hasn't been using his toothbrush much recently…

"THIS ROOM IS FOR TWENTY FUCKING PASSENGERS! SO IF YOU THINK THAT YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND ARE GOING TO BE HAVING HARDCORE SEX HERE…THEN THINK AGAIN! WORM."

Ash stood there dumbfounded. It goes without saying that Serena's face was glowing a deep shade of red from what the man just said.

"She's not my girlfriend." Ash casually said, completely ignoring the 'sex' part.

"You know what?" The man again screamed, "IDON'T GIVE A FUCK!"

Not everything was processed in his head, but he just went back to his seat. He looked at Serena who was still blushing madly and was refusing to make eye contact. He actually felt a little worried.

"Serena? Are you okay? You're not feeling sick or something are you?"

Serena's face went even brighter. She was once again forced into a corner she had to get out of. Fortunately for her, something distracted Ash's attention.

*Loud Horn*

Then came an announcement which at first Serena thought was the perfect thing to distract Ash. But when she heard the announcement, she became worried, very worried.

"The last train for West Lumiose is departing. We wish you a very happy journey."

Ash and Serena looked at each other with worried eyes.

"Ash? What should we do? They aren't back yet..."

"We have to stop the train.." he said, mostly to himself before making a sprint towards the door.

Too late…

Much to their horror, the train started moving. Because of the movement of the train, the automatic doors were temporarily locked.

The bulky men looked from the corner of his eyes and looked with disgust as the raven haired boy tried to smash through the door. But to no avail…

* * *

Clemont's face was hung downwards. He looked back and saw the two security guards with stern faces tightly holding his arms.

He sighed once again and heard the conversation between the guards.

"We're getting promoted!" one guard said, slightly cracking up a smile on his hard face.

"You got that right Homie!" the other guard said and smirked."We're gonna hand him to the police where they'll lock him up and beat the shi-"

"Hey what are you doing to my brother!?" came the voice from a young blonde. Clemonts face perked up and looked at the source of the voice.

It was Bonnie and behind her was May, who looked back at him sadly.

"Clemont? Are you alright?" the brunette asked worriedly.

"Well, I most certainly would've been okay if not for these two gentlemen." He said and added sarcasm while saying the last word.

"Let big brother go!"

"I'm sorry miss!" one guard said triumphantly. "But if we let him go we'll be losing our promot- ahem, I mean, we'd be losing our sense of justice."

May narrowed her eyes. "Two more douchebags….perfect." she mumbled.

After that she almost did the same thing she did with the ice-cream man back at chapter-4. I'm sure you all remember that.

After May's slutty session was over, one could see two guards fainted on the ground with perverted smiles dancing across their faces.

Anyway…

Clemont and Bonnie were utterly shocked. Their faces looked as if he just saw a ghost…Their expressions were much like the expression Serena was showing when she first saw May's special power, first-hand.

"May, how did yo-"

"It's not the time Clemont…" May said in a matter of fact tone. "Look at the watch."

May didn't need to say anything more as the siblings suddenly broke out of their trance of zombiehood and became worried.

"We need to hurry."

With that, the three of them started running like there was no tomorrow. Clemont was tired of all the drama, but decided to make a run for it, no matter the tiredness.

After the sprint through the lobby, May heard an announcement, but didn't have the time to hear it out. Then, they finally arrived where the train was or rather, was supposed to be…

May looked helplessly as he saw their train moving away from her. Soon, it was completely out of sight. She was worried. Getting separated like this was bad enough and to put salt in the wound, Serena was alone with Ash.

She just helplessly stood there, with two equally helpless siblings by her side. She then muttered the only sentence she found was suitable under the circumstance,

"The shit just hit the fan."

* * *

 **Sixth chapter; Done and Dusted.**

 **This chapter was longer than my usual chapters. So, it took a much longer time to finish. I had much more in store for the chapter, but decided to cut it off there. Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **The next chapter~Will have amourshipping. Count on it.**

 **So, what do you think about the story so far? Do you have any ideas? do you have any suggestions? don't hesitate to tell me. I always willing to hear whatever you say.**

 **Lastly and most importantly~**

 **If you know what's good for you, don't forget to leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chap: 7**

 **Welcome wonderful readers! Welcome to the latest chapter of 'A Fake Mask'.**

 **As always, thanks for all your wonderful reviews~**

 **Hmm...it took a long time to post this chapter, sorry for that. But my text books are demanding a lot of attention from me..**

 **Anyway, this chapter will be loaded with amourshipping. So if you're an Advanceshipper...well, Brace yourselves!**

 **Also, if you guys are here, chances are that, you guys are probably hating the character I've set up for May..or, you're loving it. (least likely). I wanted to keep this part a secret, but then I decided that I shouldn't tease you guys any more,**

 **So, has it ever occurred in your minds as to why the name of the story is : A Fake Mask?**

 **Surely I didn't put in some random name for the story,...right? Try to put the pieces together: 'A May with a different behavior' and 'A fake mask' Can you guys relate something?**

 **If you can, then awesome! cause I can't! XD**

 **Gah! enough blabbering! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"What should we do Ash…?" A worried honey blonde haired girl asked the boy sitting next to her. The boy spoken to, looked back at her worriedly, but did the thing which he does best: Believe in others.

"Don't worry Serena. Our friends are is smart, so I'm sure they'll know what to do."

Serena almost knew he would say something like that. So she rephrased her question,"What do you think we should do?"

Ash thought for a while, and then said, "Well, I think we should just go to West Lumiose and wait there. That's what they'll expect us to do."

"Guess you're right." Serena whispered and leaned her face on her hand. "It'll be easier for them to find us there."

Ash was also in a similar thoughtful position. Different thoughts about their friends rumbled in their minds. The situation is really messy. Getting separated like this is something they never considered happening.

The honey blonde girl looked very worried. But if this was a different time, Serena would've squealed in joy and blushed like crazy. She and her crush were alone in the train after all.

Well, alone if not for the fact that there were four other men sitting at the other end of the room.

Despite the wonderful opportunity, Serena's mind was too busy to think about these sorts of things. She silently watched as Pikachu tried to comfort Dedenne. This was after a long time that Dedenne was travelling without Bonnie. So, the fairy rodent's sadness was understandable.

She sighed and looked at Ash. He was smiling rather awkwardly and looking at the other end of the room. Serena followed his gaze, only to find that four men were staring daggers at him.

But when her eyes met with one of them, they started smiling as if they were the kindest people in whole Kalos region.

Serena was confused. These men have been acting rather funny with Ash. When the first time she saw these men half an hour ago, she was too worried about Clemont, Bonnie and May. So, she didn't observe them closely then.

But now, she payed a little more heed towards them. They looked rather angry about something but then again their faces had smiles in them; all without any real reason. So, Serena found them rather suspicious. None of them had hair. Two of them were wearing caps. The other two had beards. And their strange perfume…

She could smell it even at this corner of the room. It goes without saying that she didn't enjoy how perfume smelt.

She shifted her gaze from the men and looked back at Ash only to find that he was already looking at her.

She was a little surprised at this as her face flustered in a reddish hue.

"Umm… Serena? Why is your face turning red?"

Serena awkwardly waved her hands in front of her face and stuttered, "I-It's nothing! I'm just feeling a little sick! Nothing else!"

Ash bought it.

"Yeah, same here. Let's get some air." The raven haired boy said and walked over to the window of the room, Serena following right behind.

The room was indeed fairly big. Ash and Serena were sitting at a side of the room, opposite to the door. The four men were sitting at the table beside the door. The distance between them was quite large, but their piercing glare was persistently looking at the raven haired boy.

As Ash and Serena made their way towards the window, the men eyed them closely. Ash noticed them and felt rather nervous. Something about them just didn't feel right to him.

Serena removed the curtains and opened the window. Immediately a strong gust of air washed their faces. The force of the air momentarily made them close their eyes. But soon, they adjusted themselves.

Ash looked outside the window. The only thing he could see was…well, darkness.

"Hey Serena? Why is everything so dark?" the boy asked frantically.

Serena sweat-dropped at the boy's question, "Ash…you do realize that we are at a train which is moving underground, right?"

As blinked, "Oooh I see! I kinda forgot…he he"

Serena face-palmed; then she started giggling as she gave a light punch in Ash's shoulder, "You're really crazy Ash!"

Hearing that, Ash couldn't help but to giggle too.

Meanwhile, the train almost conveniently ran over a hard rock in the rail line. This caused the train to shake roughly. Serena was standing beside the window with Ash and the rough shaking caused the honey-blonde performer to loose her balance, causing her to fall on top of the raven haired boy…

There they lied. Serena on top of Ash… Needless to say, the four men, weren't much pleased. They grumbled something among themselves.

Serena's face was on top of Ash's chest. She could feel his warmth radiating from his sweatshirt. The feeling was…comfortable. It was a feeling she could really get used to. She nudged her face with the blue fabric. It just felt so comfortable.

"Ash smells like lemons."

She thought and blushed, but later she mentally face-palmed as realized she had better things to worry about.

She scrambled her way from Ash's body and covered her face with her palm, trying to hide the crazy blush formed in her face.

The boy finally was able to get up. Within a very short time, he sat up and groaned and rubbed his butt.

"Ohh..that hurt! You okay Serena?" the boy asked with closed eyes. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Serena smiling sheepishly, her cheeks still glowing crimson. But the top of her head, was really what caught his attention.

"Uhh… Serena? Where'd your hat go?"

"Who-wha!" she got out and rubbed the top of her head and found a red piece of accessory missing. Without wasting a moment, she stood up and popped her head outside the train window.

"Serena! What're doing!?" He almost screamed pulled the girl back and again fell on his butt. Cursing his bad luck, he then heard some growling noise.

Following the source of the noise, he saw that those men were once again glaring at him. Their glare looked like a hungry mightyena's glare…

Ash still couldn't understand their motives, but he shrugged it off. He then shifted his gaze back to Serena. She was looking really sad. She made her way towards the table.

She just put her head on the table and made no sound whatsoever.

Ash slowly got himself off the ground and sat beside Serena. He brought his face near Serena's ear and whispered,

"Serena?"

Hearing that, the honey blonde performer raised her head and looked at Ash; her face void of any emotion. Then she slowly mumbled, "That was my favorite hat…"

"Don't worry!" Ash said rather energetically, "You can buy a new hat once we reach West Lumiose!"

"Ash…It was called favorite hat for a reason…" She said blankly and returned to her previous state of putting her head on the table.

"I'm sure we'll find something" Ash said and laughed sheepishly but Serena was unfazed. Ash then made a sad look and got up from his seat.

"Serena, I'm gonna get a drink. They have a drink stand in the next room. You wanna to come too?"

Serena once again didn't speak…

Ash frowned. Then he noticed Pikachu and Dedenne jumping onto his shoulder.

"Why is she behaving coldly towards me? What did I do?" He thought and made his way towards the door. The automatic doors opened and he casually walked out; but not without receiving more death glares from the four men…

Serena still kept her head on the table,

"Stupid Ash." She mumbled under her breath.

* * *

"Taxi!Taxi!"A blonde haired boy yelled at the top of his voice, which wasn't very loud.

The trio which consisted of Clemont, Bonnie and May were standing at a footpath. They also decided that it would be the best idea head to West Lumiose themselves.

Clemont refused to let May pick the taxis. He couldn't let her; certainly not after what he saw her doing earlier the day. So he took on the quest to find a taxi, but…he was failing miserably.

May rolled her eyes at the blonde gym leader's lame attempt. But she decided to let the boy have a go. She shifted her gaze and looked at Bonnie. She was looking rather sad for some reason. To investigate, May walked up to her.

"Are you alright Bonnie?" she asked sweetly. May's sweet voice could make even the saddest people smile; this was no exception.

Bonnie smiled weakly, "I'm okay. But I'm just a little worried about Dedenne."

" Ow Don't worry sweetie, Ash and Serena are with him!" May said and gave a reassuring smile. "I'm sure they're taking care of Dedenne as we are speaking."

Bonnie smiled, "Thank you May! You're sweet!"

May smiled back. But she then thought Ash and Serena were indeed alone in the train. She frowned.

"Hmm…Ash and Serena are alone in the train…I don't think she will waste this chance." She thought as the frown on her beautiful face intensified. "I have to get there fast…"

Bonnie noticed the sudden frown on the brunette's face. But before she could ask anything, May dashed to where Clemont was doing his terrific job of finding them a Taxi.

May's short sprint came to a halt when she reached Clemont. My looked at the road, then looked at Clemont. She sighed.

The road was packed with cars…but the way Clemont was trying to get a ride, May doubted if the most attentive Lucario would notice him.

Without uttering a word, May pushed Clemont aside.

"Hey! What is wrong with you?" Clemont got out; certainly not pleased at the way May pushed him. "Look! I was almost getting a ride!"

May once again sighed and looked at him seriously,

"Save that for someone else genius! We don't have much time!" May retorted and walked at the edge of the road, leaving a confused Clemont behind.

.

.

May stood at the edge of the road and watched all the cars; Bonnie and Clemont standing behind her. They were about to see some May magic.

May once again undid the first two buttons and revealed her mouth watering cleavage. She removed the band from her hair and undid her ponytail. This caused her soft brown hair to flow lazily in the air. She put her hand inside her fanny bag and brought out a red lipstick. She slowly applied it, which gave her lips a dry and glossy appearance. The brunette then put a look on her face which could be defined as the meaning of the word 'attractive'.

Lastly, she put one arm on her sexy hip and put the other arm in the air and only said two words,

"Lift please!"

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

With that, every single car with male and female driver's came to a halt. Almost twenty moving vehicles stopped moving. Some even crashed into the other. But nobody cared. Because they were busy admiring the beautiful being at the edge of the road.

Male drivers were clearing drools from their mouth as the female drivers were mumbling in jealousy. So, within moments, the female drivers with pissed looks carried on their way. But the same couldn't be said for the male drivers.

"COME IN MY CAR!"- was the chorus of the sound echoing in the road.

May slowly walked and looked at the cars. Her walking was also alluring; which only made the males howl like animals.

May looked around,

Most of the cars were for two people,much to her disappointment. But then her eyes finally found a car with bigger accommodation. May walked towards it; the awestruck siblings right behind her.

May stood in front of the car. It was red and was big enough for the three of them to comfortably sit. She looked at the driver.

He looked like a 21 year old guy. Looked decent and had sunglasses on. He also had brown hair and had wore a red sleeveless jacket. He didn't have any undershirt. So, it revealed his muscles. Very big muscles…

May felt disgusted seeing his muscles, but didn't show any facial expression whatsoever. She put on a seductive look and slowly said,

"I choose you."

Her voice was low, but it was loud enough to destroy the hearts of all other drivers. They harshly glared at driver May picked. But they didn't have any choice, so the disappeared from the place.

The driver which May picked on the other hand, was blushing like crazy. His blush even matched the color of the red jacket. He started sweating in nervousness.

"G-Get in." he stuttered.

May looked at him with pure disgust, but nodded and got in the back seat; much to the driver's disappointment.

Clemont and Bonnie also got on the back seat. Their faces still showed surprise. They just experienced May's magic first hand.

The driver actually got a little surprised seeing the two other passengers.

"Who're they?" he asked.

"Oh, they're the reason why I chose your car noob."

"Excuse me, I didn't quite hear you. What'd you say?"

"Oh nothing!" May got out and laughed sheepishly. "They're my friends!"

"Well, if he's your boyfriend, then I think I must ask you to leav-" the driver's talking was cut off with May's next sentence which she said rather seductively,

"I'm single."

The driver didn't say a single word as he blushed and put the pedal to the metal. Soon the three of them were on their way to West Lumiose…

Clemont and Bonnie were still dumbstruck. Clemont's mouth was still agape. He nudged May with shaky hands which caused the brunette to look at him.

May chuckled seeing the condition his blonde haired friend was.

"May…how do you do it…?"

May couldn't help but to feel déjà vu as she heard the same question from a certain performer.

She winked, "A magician never reveals her secrets!"

Clemont was too shocked to ask anything back…

May then looked at her other blonde haired friend. Bonnie was shocked at first, but now she was looking at May with wonder filled eyes.

"May! You're so awesome!" the young blonde squealed, "I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

This time it was May's turn to be shocked. May wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what. This caused at awkward silence to fall inside the car.

But thanks to Clemont, the silence was broken.

"Bonnie!" the boy shouted, "Take that back! I don't want any sister of mine to be a slu-" May covered his mouth before he could finish.

Bonnie giggled, "I'm just kidding!" but then she winked at May, "You're really awesome though!"

May winked back.

Then the driver, who was being neglected the whole time, started speaking,

"Excuse me; sorry if I'm interrupting something, but where do you want me to go?"

May got up from the back seat and brought her head to where the driver was sitting. Seeing the beautiful girls face so near him, he blushed heavily.

May then once again started in her magical seductive voice,

"Sweetie, I could follow you to the end of the world if you want but…if you could go to the end of the world while making a stop at West a Lumiose, it'd be great."

"S-S-Sure…" the driver…somehow managed to say. "B-But what's in it for m-me?

"If you take me there, I'll give you something which men really like." May said smoothly, but the driver shivered a little with the feeling of ecstasy and sped up the car.

May's voice was sure slow, but was more than enough to reach the back seat, specifically, the ears of two siblings.

Clemonts jaw dropped to the floor. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?" he thought, still unable to believe his ears." She really wouldn't do it, would she?"

May returned to her seat and gave the siblings another wink. Still trying to process everything he just heard, Clemont looked outside the window as he thought,

"This girl is evil."

* * *

Serena was still sitting on the chair; her head still lying on the table. Her beautiful short hair covered her eyes.

"Hmm…Maybe I overdid it…" she thought, "My hat flew out of the window…Ash had nothing to do with it, then why did I misbehave?" She sighed. "I have to apologize as soon as he gets back."

Serena was deep in thought, but then she felt the presence of someone sitting beside her. Her initial guess was that it was Ash. But her thoughts changed as she smelt a pungent sweat mixed expensive perfume.

Her head sprang up to see who it was.

"Eep!' was the only sound she made after seeing the person. Her latter guess, which she didn't want to be true, was right…

"Hello darling!"

It was the man who was glaring at Ash. He and his companions were sitting at the other corner of the room, but that wasn't the case now.

"H-hello!" Serena stuttered and got off her chair. She wanted to back away, but she bumped into someone. She looked back and saw it was a man with a long beard.

She gulped and looked at the other direction, only to find two other men standing there. One had a purple hat and the other had a beard, shorter than the man standing behind her.

Serena then looked at the man sitting in front of her. He had a red cap and had an evil smile on his face.

"Don't be scared. We only want to have a little interaction. We're feeling really bored."

Serena didn't take any risk; she then silently got back to the seat she was sitting previously. She glanced around. The three other men were looking at her, or rather, looking at her body. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

Pikachu and Dedenne went with Ash. Her Poke-balls were at the corner of the room, so there wasn't any chance of getting them either. She could scream, but what if they weren't bad people? Then it would lead to a very embarrassing situation. She was confused.

"You're looking sad darling, did that WORM do anything to you?" the man with the red had spat, putting extra emphasis on the word 'worm'.

"N-No! He didn't do anything!" she got out and gulped again, she wasn't comfortable with being called 'darling'.

"Then what's the problem?" the man again asked, his voice a little calmer. "You want to talk about it?"

The calm voice of the man, made Serena breathe easy again. But still, with doubts running through her head, she thought it'd be best to act normal.

"My favorite hat…it flew out of the window." She said.

"Oh bummer." He paused and then said, "Loosing a favorite hat is really depressing. I totally feel ya darling." He then pointed towards his own red hat. "I have many memories with this hat. It'd be really sad for me if I lost it."

Serena was taken aback by his words. She expected some sort of insult, but the man was actually nice. Serena smiled, "Thanks for understanding."

"Sure." The man smiled back. But still there was something odd about that smile.

"Nice dress." He complimented.

"Thank you." The honey blonde girl replied, she wasn't hesitating with her talking anymore. "My mother gave it to me!"

"Ah, so your mother made it! You look really good on that dress." The man said in a smug voice and looked at the other three men. They also nodded.

The smug voice of the man made her give an awkward smile. But she shook it off. "This man isn't so bad…" she thought to herself, "I was over thinkin-"

But before her thought was complete, the next statement of the man froze her.

"WE'D LOVE TO SEE HOW YOU LOOK WITHOUT THAT DRESS…"

Serena's eyes widened. Before she could make any movements, the man standing behind her, picked her up from the chair and dropped her to the floor of the room.

Serena wanted to scream, but with a flashy movement, the man with the purple cap grabbed her mouth tightly and pinned her to the floor.

The man with the beard came from the side and tightly pinned her hands.

The third man with the short beard grabbed her feet.

To put it simple, she was tightly pinned to the ground by three men who were twice her size. Serena tried to scream, but not a single sound could escape her mouth. She wanted to move her hands and feet. But she was failing in doing so…

She was completely at their mercy. The only thing she could do was to breathe, hear and see. She then watched with terror as he saw the man with the red cap slowly approach her with a smug look plastered on his face.

"When I wish something, I tend to get it fulfilled." He said out loud.

Saying that, the bastard got down on his knee and eyed the pinned girl from top to bottom. The look on his face clarified that he was enjoying what he was seeing. He licked his lips with his tongue and mumbled, "She looks tasty."

The scumbag then pulled off the vulnerable girl's boots; making her bare footed. Doing that, he tossed the boots to a side. Serena started shaking…mostly in fear. Her face became pale as she could anticipate what was going to happen to her. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Drops of tears formed in her terrified eyes…

The bastard then made his next move. He slowly pulled up her dress up to her neck, exposing her almost bare torso.

Serena struggled and wanted to wriggle out of their grasp. But she couldn't…

The four men then gazed at her exposed half-naked body and hollered like animals. The scumbag with the red hat then mumbled with amazed eyes,

"Would ya look at that!? My darling not only has the face of a queen, but also the tits of a whore!"

With that all the man-shaped animals in the room exploded in laughter. Serena never felt more helpless and embarrassed. She cried, but not even the slightest muffled sound of that sadness could be heard thanks to the tight grip on her mouth….

"Now, time to take off your lingerie." The man said in a singsong and extended his hands towards the chest of the crying girl…

*Sound of Automatic Doors*

"Hey Serena, sorry I'm late. Look I've brough-" Ash came and looked in front him. He saw all the men were sitting on the floor, surrounding something.

They gave him annoyed and smug glares, disappointed at being interrupted. Ash gulped.

But the next thing he saw completely changed his expression. Needless to say, Pikachu and Dedenne, who were sitting on Ash's shoulder, had the same expression.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER!" The boy shouted, his voice echoing through the room. His eyes slowly turned bright red in anger. And his face….there was a look in it which no one has ever seen before…

Pikachu and Dedenne took it as their cue as they jumped from Ash's shoulders and electrocuted the two men who were holding Serena's hand and feet.

Ash ran and tackled the man who was holding Serena's mouth. Due to the sudden movement made by the boy, he was caught off guard and got shoved to a side.

The raven haired boy knelt down beside Serena and pulled down her dress, covering her body. He then picked up the helpless girl. Ash almost shivered seeing the condition she was in. Her body was cold; her hands and legs were wobbly.

Serena was finally able to cry out loud this time. She held Ash's arm tightly and buried her face in his sweatshirt. But she didn't utter a word. She only cried and made muffled sounds from her mouth…

Ash silently carried Serena to the corner of the room, his hat covering his eyes. He slowly placed her down. He did it in complete silence.

Being put down, Serena leaned her head on the wall as her hair covered her face. But she was still shivering and the drops of tear still kept on rolling down.

Ash took off his sweatshirt and wrapped it around her body. He looked at Pikachu and Dedenne and motioned something, to which they obediently nodded. Then the two rodents stood around the girl in a protective manner.

Ash then silently turned back and faced the men. They were standing there just watching him do whatever he was doing…The ones who were electrocuted also regained back their consciousness.

Those bastards just looked in Ash's eyes. They were actually feeling afraid….

His face was cold; it didn't have any emotion. His eyes…they were blood shot, they were angry; they were glowing…blue?

"You…." The boy slowly said, "YOU MADE HER CRY!"

That voice was cold and it was ferocious enough to pierce through their souls.

"Y-You WORM! How dare you raise your voice against us?!" The red capped leader coughed and tried his best not to sound terrified. "G-Get him Phil!"

Phil, the man with the short beard looked at his boss. But then he looked at the cold-faced teen. He was standing there silently…But his silence had deeper meaning to it.

"How hard can it be to kill a little runt?"He thought and smirked.

He then came dashing towards the boy, stomping the floor loudly. Coming closer to his target, he raised his fist to deliver a punch.

Ash quickly ducked and bashed his fist to his stomach, making him cough out blood. The man immediately fell on the floor while clutching his stomach.

If looked close enough, one could see a shade of blue glowing from Ash's fists.

He picked up the man from the ground, holding him by his throat. Then without mercy, he threw him to a nearby chair, destroying it instantly.

But…the man wasn't down yet. He once again gathered up the courage to get up. With the remaining bit of his strength, he decided to land a flying kick at the enraged raven haired boy.

He did a short groggy spring and jumped charged at the Ash, pointing his right leg towards him.

But Ash saw him through. With a quick reflex, he grabbed the man's leg as he was still in the air.

Tightening his grip on the leg, he slammed him ruthlessly to the ground. The impact of the slam made the whole room shake up a little.

Because of the slam, his face hit the floor roughly. No other movement was seen from the man.

The man's face couldn't be seen as it was facing the ground. But it could be clearly guessed that, it didn't look pretty considering the fact that a tooth from his mouth landed in front of the three other dumbfounded men.

The last three men; one with long beard, one with purple cap and the other scoundrel with the red cap, nodded to each other. Keeping their eyes focused at raven haired boy's blue glowing eyes, they slowly backed and reached their luggage.

Slowly but steadily, they brought out their hockey sticks. They positioned their hockey sticks in their hands and nodded to each other. Then, in a split second, they surrounded themselves around Ash.

Pikachu and Dedenne looked worried, but they didn't want to disobey what Ash ordered them. Pikachu then looked at Serena who was still sitting while leaning against the wall. The girl had a small frown in her face; her hair messy and still covering her eyes. Pikachu could also see the dried up crying marks on her cheek. She looked like she was lost in her mind, unable to focus on anything else.

Pikachu looked depressed seeing the girl's condition, but then shifted his focus back to his trainer.

Ash eyed the three men surrounding him. He didn't move, only waited.

The two men, one with the purple cap and the other with the long beard, were positioned in front of and behind the raven haired teen. Suddenly, they roared and charged with their hockey sticks.

It was like time had slowed down for Ash. He coldly looked in front of him and saw the man with the purple cap charge towards him. Then he glanced back. He couldn't see everything, but it looked as if the man with the long beard was also charging towards him with his raised hockey stick.

Ash's hands once again glowed as he acted swiftly. He caught the hockey stick of the purple-capped man with one hand and with the other, he caught the man's hand and with a rough pull, he placed the man at his back; using him as a shield.

The long bearded man charging from behind didn't have time to stop himself, resulting his hit to directly land on the head of the man located at Ash's back.

That being a fatal blow, the man with the purple hat fell unconscious on the floor.

The long bearded man looked with horrified eyes at what he just did. He just knocked out a fellow comrade. He glared at Ash; which caused the teen to…actually curve up a smirk.

"You son of a Bitch!" The man roared and threw his hockey stick to the ground roughly. Then he cranked his knuckles and aimed a punch towards Ash's face.

Ash looked at him emotionlessly. As his fist was coming close to his face…he stopped it with one bluish glowing hand, stopping the man dead on his tracks. With his other hand, he landed an uppercut on his chin.

A small crack sound was heard before then man fell on the floor almost on the verge of being knocked out. With closed eyes, he just mumbled some words,

"He's not human…"

That was the last thing he said before he felt himself being kicked hard on his stomach, causing him to end up at the opposite corner of the room where Serena was.

Three down; only the last scoundrel was left. Ash's eyes then darted across the room. He couldn't see him anywhere…

But suddenly he felt something clash with the back of his head. Ash immediately fell down and grunted in pain.

But he couldn't fall…not when he still had something left to do. Suppressing the pain, he slowly got up and looked at the man. His cold blue eyes glared at him…This has to be the first time he looked at someone so coldly…

The man was now scared. He glanced at his knocked out mates. Some were a bloody mess…

He felt a wet spot in his pants. He then did the thing a wise man would recommend to do: apologize.

He immediately ran towards Ash's feet and grabbed them…

"I'm Sorry! Please let me go! I surrender."

Ash was unfazed. But he then grabbed the guy's neck with his hand and picked him up and brought his face in front of his own.

"You made her cry…nobody makes Serena cry." He said silently.

"I'm sorry! I won't do it agai-"

He couldn't finish, because Ash threw the scumbag in front of the still shaking girl and placed his feet on top of his back. "Apologize! Now!"

The man had love for his life. So, he did whatever he was told, even if he had to beg to a much young girl. His ego was no more…He had to survive…

"Miss, please forgive me! I won't ever do it again."

Serena was completely unfazed. Her honey blonde hair still covered her eyes. She was lost inside her own mind, unable to think or concentrate on anything else. But she was still shaking.

Ash then removed his feet from the back of the man. With all the remaining energy he had, he kicked the man hard on the ribs; causing him to slide and crash at the side of the wall.

Ash then furiously looked around and eyed the unconscious men lying in different corners of the room.

"SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MAKE SERENA CRY!?" Ash shouted and stomped the floor in anger. "YOU DON'T EVER MAKE HER CRY!"

With that final shout….Ash lost his balance. He felt all the energy being drained from his body. His eyes weren't glowing anymore…he couldn't stand.

He just fell down…

Serena was totally oblivious to everything just happened around her. However, the 'Thud' sound Ash made before falling shook her out of her shocked state. If the sound was from something else, there wouldn't be affect on her...

Broken from her internally trapped state, she looked around. Her eyes widened in surprise. Those four men were lying in different corners of the room and were in terrible conditions. Her eyes further widened in shock when she saw a certain raven haired boy lying unconscious in the room. The two rodents were standing around him with worried eyes.

Serena immediately got up from her sitting position and scrambled her way towards Ash. Her eyes watered up again. She slowly shook the body of the boy.

"Ash…" she said slowly…"Ash…please get up…"

But she found no response from the boy.

This time Serena held the boy tighter and shook him rather roughly.

"Get up Ash…" Her voice slowly increased. Tears also strolled down from her face. Pikachu and Dedenne also broke down in tears. But the emotional breakdown of the girl was very saddening to see…

* * *

"Umm…Serena?" Ash frantically asked the honey blonde teen walking beside him. They were walking by a street.

"Yes A-Ash?" Serena got out. Her body was still covered by Ash's sweatshirt.

"Uhh…what happened after I passed out?"

Serena took a deep breath and looked at the busy street. There were cars, but the footpath was populated by human and Pokémon. She was still feeling uneasy about talking about the incident taking place some hours ago…

She then gathered up the courage and started speaking,

"After you passed out, some conductors of the train came to our room. They were initially shocked seeing five people unconscious. I told them the whole story. They then immediately took you to the medical chamber of the train.

Those four men were also treated. Fortunately, none of them were hurt too much. Then after reaching the station, Officer Jenny arrested them.

Soon, you woke up and here we are, walking towards the dock." She finished.

But in her short explanation she left out the crying part. Pikachu and Dedenne, sitting at Ash's shoulder, found it hilarious, so they started snickering. But after seeing Serena's playful glare, their laughing ceased.

"But Ash, I have something I want to talk about."

Still continuing on with the walking, he turned his head towards the girl and looked at her. She took it as her cue to continue.

"Ash…you fought those men…" she softly said, "I was feeling totally anesthetized at that moment, so I didn't notice anything…but after seeing the state those men were in…" she paused a little and then continued, "Did you really do that Ash?"

"Yes I did…" He confessed,"I can't believe that I did something like that myself…To be honest, I can't even remember everything perfectly."

Serena sighed, "Don't get me wrong Ash; I'm more than happy that you've shown those monsters their place, but...the thought that you did something like that is really scary."

Ash now had a serious face.

"I don't know why, but when I saw tears in your eyes, I kinda lost myself." He sighed, "My anger took the better of me… I'm not sure, but I felt something inside of me activate at that moment. It almost controlled my movements…

But I think I know why it happened…"

Serena stopped the progress of her walking and looked at Ash; eager to hear what he had to say. The boy also stopped walking.

"I can't stand the reality of any of my friend's distress." He said calmly.

Serena closely heard every word he said. But the reaction she showed was quite unexpected.

She started giggling. Loud enough for the passerby people to give her annoyed looks. Ash blinked, he was a little taken back by her sudden laughter. But he cracked up a smile. Whatever he said made her laugh. That was more than enough reason for him to smile as well. But he couldn't help but to ask,

"Serena? Did I say something funny?"

"No Ash." She replied; her smiling dying down slowly. "I just find it very funny to think that the boy, who always thinks about Pokémon and how to get a new badge, can risk his life only to see his friend happy." She again started chuckling, this time a little slowly.

"You're really crazy Ash!" she said and resumed walking.

Ash only scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly as he started walking again.

"Ash, I want you to make a promise." She said with a tone which depicted earnestness. She was certainly having mood swings. One moment she was giggling and now, she was being serious.

"Please Ash, don't ever get on a fight with another person again. Promise me."

Ash took in a deep breath and delayed the answer, which made the honey blond girl more anxious. But then, he finally said it, "I promise Serena. I won't fight."

Serena put on a relieved smile, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No, not at all, I'm actually relived to make that promise." Ash replied gloomily, "I don't want to get myself in a fight again…"

"Thank you Ash. That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

Ash said nothing and continued to walk. He gazed at the road in front of him and went on silently. Ash's silence made the girl walking beside her curve a frown. Making Ash recall that moment wasn't probably the best decision she made…

Ash then again stopped walking and looked around.

They were walking through the shopping district. Many people were crowded on the street. There were shops everywhere. Food shops, clothes shops, accessories and many other things. Ash looked at all the people. They were having a lot of fun together as they had piles of bags in their hands.

The raven haired boy then turned his head towards his friend. She was looking anxious.

"Serena. I'm gonna take a little walk around the place. Can you wait for me here?" Ash said in a straight forward voice.

Serena just nodded reluctantly.

Ash then walked off in a direction with Pikachu and Dedenne; leaving the poor girl behind.

Serena quietly watched her crush as he walked off. The girl felt remorse. She silently walked towards a nearby bench and sat there; many thoughts running through her mind.

"I shouldn't have brought up that fighting part…" she thought and felt sad.

"Maybe, needs some time alone from me…"

* * *

"Right there! Yes, stop the car." May instructed the driver as she kept on looking outside the window.

The driver with the red jacket did accordingly. He slowed the car and searched for a parking spot.

The whole journey to West Lumiose was a pretty silent one. Well, for the driver at least. He was still busy thinking about the reward he was going to get. His face looked flustered.

The trio on the other hand, had the time of their lives. They talked and told stories about their journeys. It certainly helped them to know each other a lot better.

Bonnie was fascinated hearing the stories the brunette said. Her story of winning a grand festival was nothing to scoff at.

Hearing her story, Clemont was also amazed. He thought that the girl was …interesting.

The driver followed May's instructions and parked the car at the side of the dock. May got out of the car and yelled,

"Bonnie, Clemont! Hurry up will ya?"

As the brunette said, the two siblings got out of the car hastily. The driver was rather confused at his passengers' activities.

"Hey! Miss! You were about to give me something!" he said loudly.

This caused May to stop in her tracks. May and slowly walked back towards the car and put on her cute face. She got in front of the car window and bent down and made direct eye contact with the driver.

It goes without saying that he wasn't having the most comfortable time of his life that moment. But he still wanted that reward from the pretty lady.

May softly said, "I did say that I would give you something that every man likes, didn't I?...Well, I certainly shouldn't break that promise."

Hearing those words, Clemont and Bonnie stiffened. The driver however became glad. He was going to get his reward after all. Clemont hastily covered his sister's eyes; completing his duties as a brother.

"Close your eyes." May softly ordered the over-excited man.

The driver gulped and closed his eyes. Doing it, he extended his lips in a kissing position.

 **… … …**

 **… … …**

He waited, and waited, but nothing touched his lips.

Then with an irritated manner, he flicked opened his eyes. The first thing he in front of his eyes was…money?

"What's this?" He got out.

May was beyond disgusted at the way man had his face moments ago.

"What does it look like, genius?" she retorted, "it's money."

"Why the heck are you giving me money?!" The driver got out.

"Well, I did say that I'll give you something which man really likes. Every man likes money!" May smiled cutely once again but then raised an eyebrow, "Why, what'd you expect?"

 **… … …**

 **… …. …**

The driver closed his eyes, then face palmed. The girl had…logic. It was his own fault for falling for that. After some moments, he removed his palm from his face and saw a brunette dashing somewhere, followed by two blonde siblings.

He looked at his lap and found the money. With a depressed face, he drove off somewhere else while muttering,

"Oh fuck. My boss is gonna kill me for being late."

.

.

May kept on with her slow sprint, her eyes darting left and right to spot two certain teens. She looked back and saw Clemont having a hard time sprinting; his sister aiding him.

"Clemont! You're too slow!" May yelled.

After a good 40 seconds, the huffing gym leader finally reached the brunette.

"Sorry…" boy said with a muffled voice as he was having a hard time catching his breath, "Can we slow down a little?"

"Umm…Okay, sure." May gave him a warm smile, "Don't push yourself and take it easy." She said back softly and resumed walking slowly.

Clemont looked confused as he followed her. He had solved many difficult things in his life. He even invented things which people fail to build after long years of study.

But still, he couldn't figure out the being walking ahead of him. She was a blend of weird, amazing, evil and yet, sweet.

"You know May?" he said, "I almost thought you were going to kiss that man."

Bonnie also looked with big eyes, waiting to hear what the coordinator had to say.

"No Clemont." She giggled. "Think for a moment. I didn't promise the man anything which he thought. Also, I didn't force him to do anything. He could've easily said 'no' when we wanted to get in his car, but he didn't. I made him an offer of money, but using specific words.

So, I didn't even lie to him. It was completely his misconception and lust which made him give us the ride all the way from central Lumiose to here.

You may call it sluttiness, but I call it an art; the art of deceiving the perverted. I only use this art only to bring the perverted people down to their place." She finished and smirked proudly. She then lowered her voice and said to herself, "This is something I never wanted to learn…"

The awestruck siblings didn't notice her last sentence, but they were absolutely fascinated hearing her short speech.

Clemont then fixed his glasses and said, "May! You are a pure geni-"

"Genius? Yup, I get that a lot." She said back triumphantly.

"But enough with that, lets concentrate on the task at hand!" May said out loud and ran off towards the dock, the two awestruck siblings following close by.

* * *

 **Seventh chapter; done and dusted.**

 **Now, before you people start throwing tomatoes at me...let me explain.**

 **I just put in a little aura reference. The aura made him crazy and strong as shit. So, the thing which Ash did was actually something his Aura did. His subconscious mind had nothing to do with it. I hope it makes sense :S**

 **Also, May's behavior.**

 **I don't know, I'm kinda enjoying how she toys around with guys and use them as puppets :P But, try to bear with me...It ain't gonna last till the end of the story.**

 **And Lastly and most importantly~**

 **If you know what's good for you, don't forget to leave a review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chap: 8**

 **Woah...I finally updated this XD Sorry it took such a long time. I've been very busy. Now I can write a huge paragraph and explain why I couldn't update...but I'd rather not. But to make it up to you, this is a extra long update! more than 10k words XD**

 **I'd like to thank you guys for the reviews too. You guys are truly awesome at it. And I hope you'll continue to do that ^^ Each review makes me smile. So, when I get 10-12 reviews per chapter, you can tell, I smile a lot XD**

 **I also would like to thank stevexclax, BlackRubyADV, Ilizjon, satosere1234 for their Pm's. Believe me, those PM's are the reason I kept on writing even when I was busy XD**

 **And...a little warning. This chapter will contain sexual humor. But nothing too explicit. But still, any of you guys don't like these stuff, I highly suggest you don't read the last part of the chapter.**

 **SO, Read, Enjoy & leave a review (^_^)**

* * *

The sun was on the western sky as an orange hue of light, lighted the huge Lumiose city. Despite of its position in the sky, people could enjoy a good solid two hours of sunlight before calling it a day.

Under this evening atmosphere, a boy walked calmly. His bright silver hair swayed in the wind and almost covered his red ruby eyes. Those red eyes gave him an eerie look. As for clothing, he had a hooded red-black jacket on. But unlike other times, his face wasn't covered by his hood.

He was going on by a path, alone. He usually wasn't used to this quietness. Because, whenever he was travelling, he always had his younger sister by his side. But that wasn't the case now as the only thing giving him some company was the fresh red apple in his hand.

He took a bite from it and felt its sweetness gushing inside his mouth. But having a lot on his mind, his face didn't show the pleasure he received after taking the bite. He just kept on walking. His thoughts made him absent minded as he was crossing a road.

But due to his absent mindedness, he didn't notice the traffic light…

This ultimately resulted in one thing; a car running at a descent speed stopping roughly in front of him. This sudden stop of the car startled the boy and shook him out of his thoughts. Troubled, he accidentally dropped his bite-taken apple on the road.

"Oi you brat! Are ya blind or something!" The driver brought his face out of the window and shouted. But the boy spoken to was more interested in looking at his poor apple.

Shifting his gaze, he looked back at the driver and lowered his head in apology and walked off the road without making any real sound. Taken back by his gentle maneuvers, the driver also carried on in his way.

The silver haired boy once again carried on with his walking. He had a small frown in his face; the disappointment of not eating the apple still evident.

Suddenly out of nowhere, he pulled out another apple which looked identical to the previous one. The satisfaction soon returned as he took a bite from it. Meanwhile, his other hand found its way to his pant pocket and brought out a cell phone.

Still chewing his apple, he flicked open his phone, checked something, and dropped it back to his pocket. He then increased his walking speed and took a left turn and entered a dark alley.

Taking another bite from his apple, the boy looked around. The place was void of light. The weak rays of the evening sun couldn't reach the place. But with that being said, the place wasn't completely dark as those weak sun rays gave the place a soft glow.

The boy noticed the presence of a person inside the alley, leaning against a wall. He smiled and looked at the figure. Though nothing much could be seen… the green hair of the said person was certainly noticeable.

"Ah Brendan, I've been expecting you." His quiet, yet mysterious voice soared through the air.

"Yes…I've been waiting to meet you myself." The silver haired boy, Brendan said, "I hope you didn't have any trouble on your way here."

"No, not at all." He said and got off from his leaning position and picked up a briefcase from the ground. "But I say we skip the introductions. I prefer going straight to business. I'm sure you'd like that too."

Brendan laughed a little and smirked, "You speak my language."

Soon, the boy with the green hair and Brendan got out from the dark alley. The green haired boy still held the briefcase and calmly walked, Brendan following right behind.

The orange sunlight lit up the boys face and clearly revealed his face…

He had emerald green eyes, the color almost matching his hair. He was taller than before and a hard face had replaced what was once known to be a pretty one.

But the most notable feature of his face was a scar; a very deep scar which was positioned on his right cheek…

Brendan did a short sprint and caught up to him. He couldn't help but to notice the deep mark. In an attempt of satisfying his curiosity, he asked,

"Err…Drew? What the heck happened to your cheek?

Hearing the question, he flinched and stopped walking. Memories behind the formation of the mark flooded his mind…

His eyebrows curved and his face looked very angry all of a sudden. He took a deep breath and shook it off. Then he resumed walking, ignoring Brendan's question.

Brendan found it very confusing as he also continued walking. But he asked again, "Drew, what's tha-"

Drew raised his hand and motioned him to stop. He just simply said,

"I would honestly love to tell you the whole story behind it, but it's sad to say that the mark on my cheek is none of your fucking business!"

Brendan sighed, "Sorry." But he then continued after a pause, "So, tell me the plan."

"Okay, it's a simple job. Listen carefully." Drew said calmly, which was a sudden mood swing from the outburst he made seconds ago.

"Your only job is to follow the girl and to make sure she reaches the pointed location, unharmed."

Brendan took another bite from his apple and nodded.

Drew flicked his hair and smirked, "I hope I've made myself clear."

"Crystal."

"Excellent. Just keep in mind that you cannot harm her in any sort of way."

Brendan smirked, "Got it got it! You've hired a duo of professionals and this is just a simple job."

"I hope you can keep up to your confidence." Drew said with one hand in his purple jacket pocket and the other firmly holding the briefcase. "Which reminds me…where's your sister?"

"Well," He grinned, "Let's just say, she loves working more than talking."

"Alright then" Drew then handed the briefcase to him, "This is your half payment. You'll get the rest after the job is done."

Brendan laughed slightly and accepted the money, "It's a real pleasure working with you Drew."

* * *

"Clemont! Hurry up!" a certain brunette said in a hasty voice as she was walking backwards while looking at the two siblings. Her face had the hint of anxiety written all over it. The thought that Ash and Serena were alone, still gave her a bad feeling.

Being called continuously, the huffing blonde haired gym leader tried to catch up with her. His sister walked beside him and kept on glaring at him. She was also getting tired of her brother's lack of athleticism.

After increasing the speed a little more, Clemont finally reached the brunette but found that she wasn't walking anymore. Still huffing, Clemont looked at her and found her deep in thought about something. He then looked at Bonnie saw that she was a bit tired herself. They've been roaming in the dock for quite some time now, but the two certain teens they were searching for, were nowhere in sight.

Clemont wanted to ask May as to why they've stopped, but his sister beat him to it.

"May? Shouldn't we continue our search?"

"Hmm…I've been thinking." May replied, looking at Bonnie. But her answer was directed at both of them as she continued. "We've been searching in the docks for almost an hour now. If they were here, we would've found them already."

"What are you proposing?" Clemont asked, adjusting his glasses.

"What I'm saying is that, THEY AREN'T HERE!" the brunette said, giving a little more emphasis on the last part of her sentence. "I have two ideas. One; they still haven't arrived in West Lumiose yet. Two; they are here, but they still haven't come to the docks yet."

"Okay…" Clemont said as he tried put on a little more thought into the matter. "Let us assume that your latter guess is correct. Then where do you think they are now?"

Bonnie just kept on looking at his brother and May, waiting for them to come up with a plan.

"Well," May started, putting a finger on her chin. "If the two of them did arrive at West Lumiose and if they're not at the docks yet, chances are that they're still at the shopping district."

"Shopping district, huh?" the little blonde girl said. "Why do you think they'd be there?"

"Bonnie, I think May's onto something. In order for them to come to the docks, they must pass through the shopping district first."

"Yup, looking there is the best option we got actually." May said. "We better start walking."

With that, the trio again started walking. This time, they were walking at the same pace as they made their way towards the shopping district.

But what they didn't notice was that a girl with raven black hair and red eyes was silently and carefully following their every step…

* * *

The blue eyes of a certain honey-blonde girl darted around. All she could see was the crowded environment which mostly consisted of people carrying shopping bags. Serena was frantically twirling her short hair as she was thinking about many things.

Quite some time has passed since she's been sitting in this bench alone. She could call out some of her Pokémon to give her some company. But she was actually getting pleasure from this loneliness. Loneliness can indeed be a best friend to have when there are a lot of things hovering in one's mind. It helps to think.

She once again glanced at busy people. The sun was almost about to set, yet, they were still taking pleasure from shopping. People were still coming out of nowhere and entering the shops and coming out with handful of bags. Seeing that, Serena then remembered reading somewhere that the West Lumiose shopping district stays busy 24/7. She just understood how just the statement was, first hand.

Though she was kinda getting used to the absence of company around her, she still couldn't get over the feeling that something was missing. The rays of the setting sun were directly falling at her eyes. This made her a little annoyed. She's been travelling for a long time now. Yet, she very rarely faced a situation where rays of the sun fell in her eyes like that.

Then it suddenly clicked to her that her hat usually kept her protected from the sun rays. Then she realized what was missing; her hat.

Her mind then wandered off to the moment when her hat flew off the train window. As she remembered that, she couldn't help but to remember the events which took place after that…

Her body shivered a little. But then, the name of a certain raven haired boy also came to her mouth.

"Ash…" she slowly said and lowered her head. She remembered the way Ash walked away. Once again, the remorseful feeling inside of her burned up. She covered her face with her hand and further lowered her head. A slow and muffled sentence escaped her mouth…"Ash…where are you?..."

"Here I am!"

… … … …

… … … …

"Eeep!" was the sound that escaped from the mouth of the girl before she sprang up from her sitting position. "Ash! When did you come?!"

The raven haired boy had his hands behind his back and a mischievous smile running across his face. "I just got here! And I heard you say-"Ash blinked. "Umm…Serena? Why is your face red again?"

Indeed. Serena's face was so red that it could put the redness of a ripe tomato into shame. She just nervously waved her hand in front of her face and stuttered like she always does, "N-nothing! It's nothing!"

Ash once again shrugged it off as his hands were still behind his back. Meanwhile, seeing the girl's reaction, the two rodents sitting on Ash's shoulder snickered evil rodent-laughs.

Shaking off the blush, Serena looked at Ash with a forced serious face. "Where were you?!"

"You really want to know?" Ash asked, the mischievous smile never leaving his face.

His smile made the girl nervous as she only nodded her head and gave Ash his answer.

"Okay then. Close your eyes."

Giving Ash a questioning look, she closed her eyes. She trusted her, more than anything. But the nervousness was still evident in her face.

After some seconds, she heard Ash's voice again, "Now open your eyes!"

Accordingly, she flicked open her eyes and looked at Ash and found him smiling. This smile wasn't mischievous, but it was genuine. She looked a bit down and saw that he was holding a box. The box wasn't very small, but wasn't very big either.

Being overtaken by curiosity, she hastily removed the lid of that box. The contents of that box made her gasp in surprise.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other end of that busy road, three certain friends were walking. Keeping their heads up, they kept on walking with hopes of reuniting with their other friends. Clemont looked totally beat-up, so did Bonnie. May was also tired, but her face refused to depict that.

The road was packed with people. So, finding their friends was gonna be a tough job. But however, as they were walking, two certain people caught the eye of the young blonde girl.

"Hey guys? Look there." Bonnie said as she pointed towards a definite direction."Don't those two look like Ash and Serena?"

Hearing that, the attention of the brunette was perked up. Following the path directed by Bonnie, May looked.

Indeed, it was their two friends!

May didn't need a second look to recognize who they were. Without uttering a single word, she started running towards them, almost forgetting the existence of the two blonde haired siblings…

* * *

"Ash…" was the only word Serena managed to say. Her eyes still gazed at content the box held. It was almost too good to believe. "How did yo-"

The raven haired boy smiled. He understood that his little gift managed to make Serena happy.

"I felt really sad that you lost your hat. And honestly, I said some stupid things about your hat back at the train." Saying that, the boy giggled. "So I wanted to make it up to you by surprising you with a new hat. And what better place to buy a new hat than a shopping district?"

Serena was happy beyond belief. And her face didn't hide it, neither did it intend to. It was almost feeling like a happy dream which she never wanted to end. The fact that Ash did something this thoughtful was better than any dream she could ever have.

This time, she was the one having the mischievous grin as she elegantly took the hat from the box and placed it in her head after giving it a little twirl. The hat looked almost like her previous hat. Except that it had a much sweeter and softer pinkish color.

Lightly lifting her dress, she bowed down elegantly and said with a teasing voice, "So? How do I look?"

Totally being oblivious to the flirty tone, he said with a smile, "It looks good!"

"Why thank you Ash." Serena said as she smiled back. She didn't mind the naïve tone in which he said that. She was really getting used to it.

"So do you like it?"

"Like it? No Ash I don't just like it," she said and walked closer to Ash, a warm sensation running through her heart. Moving further closer, she wrapped her arms around the boy and took him in for a hug, catching the boy and the two rodents off guard. "I… love it!"

There they were, in the middle of a busy road, hugging. Some people passing by gave them pleased smiles, but soon they continued on their merry way.

A very weird and foreign feeling was coursing through the honey blonde girl. Hugging Ash was something which she had thoughts of doing before, but actually doing it, felt weird. But it was a good kind of weird.

Even she didn't know what made her hug him like that. But she only knew one thing that she was liking it. Ash wasn't resisting either. So, she was enjoying a heavenly feeling which she never wanted to end.

That was until the voice of a certain brunette reached their ears, "Getting comfy, are we?"

… … … … …

"May!" Ash excitedly said as he broke the hug, much to the disappointment of the honey-blonde girl. "You're okay! I'm so glad!"

May put her hand on her hip and glared at Serena, but then looked sweetly at Ash. "Of course I'm okay Ash." she said and giggled playfully. "I'm glad you guys are alright too."

Pikachu meanwhile jumped from Ash's left shoulder and landed on the brunettes head, causing her to smile. "Aww Pikachu, I missed you too."

"May? Where are Clemont and Bonnie?"

"Oh they're catching up~"May said and once again giggled, which a certain girl found very annoying. Then May pointed towards the direction from where she came from. Surely, among all the people, the siblings could be seen. Clemont was trying his best to run as Bonnie was aiding him.

Ash looked excited and started waving his hands towards them and started shouting out their names. But the busy and noisy street prevented his voice to reach the siblings.

As Ash was trying to call Clemont and Bonnie, May finally got a little lone time to finally talk with Serena, who still hasn't spoken anything after their reunion.

"Oh my, Serena~" May said in a whispering voice, enough for the performer to hear. "I never expected you to make your move on him so swiftly. You are one hasty bitch."

Serena flinched a little after hearing that particular word May said. However, she still maintained her toughness as she retorted, "If you think calling me names is gonna make me leave Ash, you're wrong May."

May just giggled once again. They were all standing in a corner of a very busy street, but the hostility between the two girls was certainly nothing less than frightening. But they talked in such a manner, that a normal passerby couldn't detect anything.

"But I have to admit, you did ruin a thing I intended to do after this reunion."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked in a confused tone.

"Well, I thought that after meeting Ash, I'd greet him by giving him a big hug…But what I found was… a bitch hugging him instead." She replied, disappointment clear in her voice.

"Stop calling me that!" Serena got out in a very angry voice. However, inside, she was pretty satisfied to ruin her plan. But the voice she used to speak hid the satisfaction, nicely. "I'm gonna keep on trying until I get Ash!"

"Oh yes, keep on trying Serena." May said as she started giggling again. "But I'll just warn you about something…You are only chasing the clouds. Doing it, you can gain nothing….bitch."

Serena didn't retort. She just ignored her and looked at a different direction with a face that couldn't be called happy. But she then noticed Clemont and Bonnie finally catching up and talking with Ash. So, she did a short jog and reached the siblings, leaving May behind.

"Clemont! Bonnie!" the honey blonde girl squealed. "Are you two alright?"

Bonnie was too busy cuddling with Dedenne, so she didn't answer Serena. They've only been apart for 5 hours, but they were acting like it was an eternity. Ash was looking at them in awe.

Clemont however, gave a warm smile at Serena. "Yes we're alright and it's wonderful to see you guys well too." Clemont fixed his glasses and said, "You guys didn't have any problem in the way did you?"

Serena's felt her soul slip out of her body. Her body started shivering again…Ash felt uncomfortable too.

What she went through today was something nerve wrecking for a girl to experience. Normally after experiencing something like that, a typical girl stays in very weak mental condition. But this wasn't the case for Serena. She was well and acing totally normal and she knew why she was able to be like this: Ash.

And even this time, she recovered from her shivering state as she looked at Ash. He was actually about to say something to Clemont.

In a hasty manner she grabbed his hand. Slightly startled by this sudden move, Ash looked at her. But after seeing the look in her eyes, he got the message. He sighed.

Lying to his friends was something he never likes to do. But he also couldn't help but to agree that keeping the situation in the shadows was the better option at the moment.

"No Clemont" He said as he gave a nervous laughter, "we didn't have any problem!"

… … … …

Clemont was no idiot. And the way they were behaving made it obvious that they were hiding something. He fixed his glasses and asked, "You guys aren't hiding anything, are you?"

Serena and Ash looked at each other, nervousness clear in their faces.

May also noted their behavior intently. "Keeping secrets huh? Well, that's not a nice thing to do." She said to herself. She then made her way towards the others and started talking in her usual perky energetic self, "So what do we do now guys?"

Serena despised her. But her asking a question gave them the route to escape from the previous topic. So, Serena was actually thankful.

She also talked energetically, "The sun is almost down! We m-must find a hotel to stay for the night!"

"I think I saw a hotel some while ago! And it's just this way!" Ash said, getting into the act. "Let's go!"

"Yeah! C'mon Bonnie!" May said as she already started walking, Ash and Serena following close behind. Bonnie, who was still cuddling with Dedenne, saw her friends getting a move on, and decided to do the same.

Poor Clemont just stood there dumbfounded, still unable to comprehend what his friends just did. He almost forgot that he asked a question as he did the wise thing that should've been done at the situation, follow.

* * *

On that very shopping district, a girl was walking. As the sun was almost setting, the density of people was coming down. However, she wasn't here to shop as the only thing she had in her hand was her phone. Her earphones were connected with it.

She was wearing a black–red dress which almost reached her knees. And her raven black hair was tied to a ponytail; a very long ponytail. Her ruby colored eyes were gazing at five particular people as she kept on following them.

She maintained her distance and followed them. She intently looked at them, but a particular blonde haired boy specially caught her eye.

"So…" she murmured, "That idiot is with them."

As she was walking, she recalled the events taking place the previous day.

"Idiot." She said between a cold giggle. "He actually wanted to hit on me. Hah! What a loser."

Many more thoughts were coming to her mind but it was cut short as her phone started ringing. Shaking off her thoughts, she connected the ear phones to her ear and said, "Yo Brendan."

She was talking, but her vision was firmly stuck on those five teens. The people in the street helped her to blend with the environment.

"Yes Brendan." She said in an annoyed tone. "I've been stalking her all day."

…. …. ….

"Yup. They are just ahead of me. Looks like they are probably trying to find a hotel or something."

… …. ….

"Wow really? So you finally met him?...Did he clear our payment?"

…. …. ….

"That's good to hear." She said in a satisfied tone, which soon turned into suspicion as she asked, "I still have a hard time to believe that he is willing to pay us so much…for such a measly job. Don't you smell something fishy in this?"

…. …. ….

"Meh. You're right. If he really does try anything fishy, I'll have the answer for him right here~" She said in a singsong voice and patted a pocket in her dress, which contained a handknife."

…. …. ….

"Oi. Stop worrying, will you? The same blood flows inside the two of us." She paused and winked as she said, "And just like Brendan Ruby, Chelsea Ruby doesn't like to disappoint…"

* * *

The five friends were walking with hopes of finding a hotel soon. The sun was down and the street lamps have illuminated the roads. They had a very busy day and they just wanted to rest. But that wasn't happening anytime before a hotel was found…

May, Serena and Bonnie were walking in front and Clemont and Ash were walking a little behind the girls. May and Serena were walking side by side and Bonnie was walking further in front of them. She was smiling and was feeding her tired little fairy rodent.

Serena was still kinda grateful at May for a thing she did some moments ago. It's because of her that she didn't spill the story about the thing happening at the train. But why did May help her, was beyond her understanding. She walked closer to the brunette and said, "May…thank you for the thing you did back there. I thought you'd force me to give out any secret I was hiding, but you didn't. So,…thank you."

May smirked, "Do you really think I'd help you for nothing?"

Serena stopped in her tracks after hearing that. But she gathered up the courage and asked, "What do you want?"

"I only did that so that Clemont and Bonnie didn't hear the secret you and Ash are hiding. But I want to hear it."

Hearing that, Serena became very nervous. She started sweating and started fiddling with her fingers. May was quick to notice that. She became even more curious, but she realized that the honey blonde girl was feeling very uneasy to talk about it.

May feared the worst. But she managed to maintain her composure and asked, "…You didn't do the 'nasty' with Ash, did you?"

"Nasty? What's nast-" Serena's voice trailed off as it took her some seconds to realize the meaning that word held. "Eww no! Are you crazy or something!?" She got out, still keeping her voice in check.

May just took a breath of relief. It was almost as if a huge tension just left her shoulders. She then looked at Serena and said, "What a relief…Okay, as long as I know you didn't do anything funny with my Ash, you can keep your secret~"

Serena said nothing more as she continued walking.

Clemont was also tired beyond belief. For a boy who has a hard time to run for 5 minutes, walking 3 hours was more than torture for the poor gym leader. He looked in front and saw the girls. He really didn't need to be a rocket scientist to pick up the hostility between them. He found it natural actually.

He has always been the kind of boy who liked to spend most of his time behind the books and behind technology. But as he grew, he now started to look deeper into human psychology too. So naturally, he found the concept of love to be…fascinating.

He looked at May as she was walking in front. She wasn't talking, but she as always, had a confident look in her face. It was obvious that she was thinking about something. Seeing her face, Clemont remembered their little journey to West Lumiose. And the things she did along the way, clung onto his mind.

He had many questions and he knew the person walking beside him was the best person to seek the answers.

"Ash? I have some things I wanted to ask you." The gym leader asked in a whispering voice.

The raven haired boy was looking at a different direction, still trying to find a hotel. So, he didn't hear the whisper his friend made. But he did hear something, so he looked at Clemont and asked, "Did you say something?"

"Yes Ash. I wanted to ask you some things."

"Ask away then~" He said in a sing song voice. Pikachu sitting on his shoulder was a little eager too.

"Tell me a little bit more about May. And try not to talk so loudly please."

Ash raised an eyebrow when Clemont asked him to talk slowly, but he shrugged it off. He then said in a slow voice, "Sure thing. What do you want to know?"

"Well, knowing what kind of person is she would be a nice way to start."

Ash fixed his cap a little and smiled, "Well, she is very kind and friendly. She's the kind of person who can put her life on the line when she see's someone in danger. She also has a bubbly personality which can make her seem silly sometimes, but actually she's a very hard worker." He said and paused. He then put his finger on his chin and started thinking.

Then he again started, "She really loves to travel around and meet new people too!"

Clemont eagerly listened to every word and mumbled, "I see…"

He then started to compare the information Ash gave him with the stuff he saw all day and started thinking, "Hmm…I wouldn't put the things she did today under the 'kind' category. But she is somewhat friendly. And I'm not sure whether she'll put her life on the line for someone else…but I can't be the judge of that.

And bubbly? What I saw her doing wasn't something a person with a bubbly personality would do…A 'swift acting male poacher' would be the finest way to define her…"

Ash looked at Clemont and saw him deep in thought of something. His curiosity perked him as he decided to break the silence, "Is everything okay Clemont?"

Clemont glanced in front and saw the three girls walking as they were before. He then turned his head at Ash and asked, "How well do you know her Ash?"

The raven haired boy found that question rather strange. But he decided to see where Clemont was going with this. So he replied a little seriously, "She's my close friend. I might not have seen her for a few years, but I know her well."

"Okay Ash, I don't doubt the friendship you and May share but I have another thing to ask. Well, have you ever seen May deceive other men into doing things she wants?"

… … …

"Ehh…What do you mean?"

Clemont face-palmed. "Ash, I didn't ask you a difficult question."

"Well, no. We've met a lot of men during our journey through Hoenn and Kanto. But no, she never did anything to deceive anyone. She did have two male rivals, but most of the time she was the one who got deceived." Ash said as he chuckled a bit when he said that last part. He still remembered the things Harley used to do to make her life miserable. "Now be honest, why are you asking me these weird things?"

"Well," Clemont started quietly, so that none other than Ash would hear what he was saying. "I hope you don't take offence in what I say Ash. But May really isn't the most innocent girl I've met. She deci-"

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS WHISPERING ABOUT?"

Ash and Clemont both jumped in surprise as they heard May's voice suddenly. But before they could stutter anything for an answer, Serena started talking as she pointed in a direction, "Look guys! A hotel!"

Following where Serena just pointed, Ash and Clemont looked and noticed a tall building. It had a banner where the name of the hotel was written. Ash was still in thought of what Clemont was saying, but decided to give priority to finding a shelter first. Their ship to Navadip island was gonna set sail tomorrow. So today, they needed to preserve their energy.

The sun was down and there wasn't a Pokémon Center in the area. So the fact that the group was overjoyed after seeing the hotel was an understatement.

Without wasting anytime, the five tired friends entered the hotel.

It was actually situated by the street. So it wasn't overly fancy, but from the outside it looked like they could have a decent night here.

As they entered the lobby, they felt a hint of happiness working inside of them. The thought of finally resting their heads on pillows made them even happier.

Ash looked around. The lobby was dimly lit and there were quite a few people there who were passing their time idly. He then looked at the reception where an old lady with uniform was sitting and looking through some papers. Though she was old, she had a kind and gentle look. Ash and co. approached her.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if we can stay here for the night."

The woman shifted her gaze from the papers and looked at the raven haired boy. She put on a sad look and said, "Forgive me dear, but I'm afraid we don't have any more rooms left here…All are booked."

A chorus of "Oh no" and "damn" could be heard from the four other people. Ash gave the woman a sad smile and said, "Oh well, we better find a new hotel then…"

As he turned back, the woman called him back and said, "Wait dear, we do have another room, but the problem is it's very very dusty. If you children can do a little clean up, you can stay there easily. What do you say?"

Ash's face lit up. He looked at his friends, who also had similar looks. He then turned to the woman and said, "You don't need to worry about that! We'll clean the room up! Please just let us stay, we're really tired."

The woman smiled warmly. "Of course dear." She took out a room key from her desk and handed it to him. "I also have good news for you children." She said and winked, "If you can clean up the room properly, you don't have to pay."

Hearing that, the group almost exploded with happy cheers, which caused some of the nearby people to give them annoyed looks. But the old woman kept on smiling.

Still squealing in joy, the group thanked the woman and entered the elevator of the hotel. Ash took out the room key and noticed that their room number was printed on it. Before long, the five friends found themselves standing in front of their room. The hallway was quite big, but there were only three apartments in their floor. Finding that information unnecessary at the moment, Ash inserted the key and opened the door and entered the apartment.

But the first thing they saw after entering was …well, nothing. The room was dark.

They entered the room and looked around, well tried to look around. "So...where do you think is the light switch?" Serena asked, her voice clearly sounding a bit annoyed.

"Well it should be around here somewhere." May said as she started searching the wall, trying to find the switch. Ash and Clemont also started doing the same.

But as she was searching, she tripped on something and fell face-first on the floor…Not before giving a loud shriek!

"May! Are you okay!?" Ash said, temporarily stopping the search for the light switch. The room was still dark and the light from the hallway was giving a dim glow to the room. But it was enough to see that the brunette was lying on the floor.

"Ehh…I think I'm alright." She replied groggily as she slowly got up, frantically rubbing her nose. But immediately as she did that, she started sneezing.

Clemont meanwhile, found the switch and flicked it on, causing the whole room to light up. But the first thing they saw was May's face. And seeing it, the remaining four people couldn't control their laughter. It was also clear that after seeing her face, Serena was amused the most.

Still unable to figure out the reason behind their laughter, May noticed that there was a mirror on the room. She walked up to it, and the reflection she saw made her jaw drop in surprise as she just mumbled, "Who…is that..?"

Her pretty face, her bright red T-shirt and her dark blue jeans were all covered in…dust. Now she clearly understood why the woman didn't want to give them that room. If it was said that the room was a store room for keeping dust, it wouldn't be exaggerating...

Still unable to comprehend the truth that the reflection she was seeing in front of the mirror was her own face, she noticed Bonnie giggling. May looked at her at saw that she was pointing at the floor where she fell.

"Look guys! It's a dust angel!" the little blonde said as everyone burst into laughter. Well, everyone other than May of course.

May sighed, "Can we please stop the laughter now?"

Soon, the laughter died down. But Serena still gave muffled laughs each time she looked at her face. She was actually using this laughter as a revenge for the rude way she's been behaving with her.

May meanwhile rubbed her face with her napkin with an attempt to wipe off the dust. She then finally looked at their room. She found everything quite similar to the Pokémon center room they were staying the other night. But this room was bigger. It had 6 beds arranged, all covered with very dusty white cloths. It was clear that the room was made for travelers like them who needed shelter for the night.

The room also had a bathroom and a balcony. But the most notable feature of the room was the dust. There was dust everywhere. The floor was dusty, the furniture was dusty and the walls were filled with spider nets. In simple words, nobody has been using the room for a long time now.

"Hey guys?" May asked no one in particular. "How are we planning on cleaning this room?"

"Not sure May…not sure…" Ash replied, a little depression apparent in his voice.

"Well, I'm gonna clean up the bathroom." The brunette said emotionlessly as she brought out a fresh set of clothing from her bag. She also didn't forget her shampoo and soap which she used this morning. Without saying anything more, she entered the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Ash blinked at the brunettes actions and looked at the others. They were also staring at the door of the bathroom. "Well, I guess she's not in the best of moods."Clemont joked as the others cracked smiles.

"So what now?" Serena got out and looked at all the dust around her. Suddenly, she got a little startled when she heard a creepy laughter. With big eyes she hastily looked at the source of the creepy laughter and found that it was none other than Clemont who was still smirking.

"I thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one." He said and fixed his glasses, much to the annoyance of Serena and Bonnie. He swiftly brought his hand inside his bag and said, "I bring to you…the Vacuum cleaner mark-3!"

He then placed his invention on the floor which looked like…well, a vacuum cleaner.

"Wow science is so amazing!" the raven haired boy said with sparkling eyes, as he always does. But then he felt curious about something as he asked, "Umm Clemont? What is the difference between this and a normal vacuum cleaner?"

… …. ….

Clemonts face became red in embarrassment as the other two found that hilarious. Clemont coughed loudly, indicating the others to stop laughing, which no one did. He still started, "This might look like a normal vacuum cleaner, but certainly it is not. I have programmed it especially so that it can drain every single dust particle within the marked radius."

"So…will it work?" His sister asked, finding the extra information to be boring.

"Only one way to find out."

Crossing his fingers Clemont pressed the button to the machine. Startling everyone, his machine started shaking violently as a small pipe came out of its bottom side and started sucking all the air. Within mere seconds, it sucked all the dust in the room, which made the room start sparkling. It all happened just like Clemont had said and after that, it stopped shaking.

"Well, it worked." The blonde gym leader said proudly. But finding no response from his friends he looked at them and instead found them staring at him, awestruck.

"CLEMONT!" Serena shrieked. "THIS HAS TO BE A WORLD RECORD!"

"Yeah!" Bonnie added, "Two of your inventions worked without fail! That's amazing!"

Clemont wasn't amused as he said, "I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad after hearing that."

Ash was still awestruck as he looked around. The room, which was filled with dust just moments ago, was now sparkling clean. And surprisingly, even the bed covers were in its position. Even Pikachu, who just got a single line in the whole chapter, was surprised beyond belief.

Ash jumped in one of the beds and screamed, "That was awesome Clemont!"

That brought a smile in the boy's face as he looked at Serena and Bonnie with an annoyed face. "See? At least someone appreciates what I do!"

Serena jumped on a bed herself, "Aww we do appreciate what you do, but we don't show it! Right Bonnie?" she finished while winking at the young girl, which caused her to give her typical snicker.

"So what do we do now?" Clemont asked in an attempt to change the topic.

"Well, I'm hungry."

"Yes, we haven't eaten anything since morning." Clemont got out. He then put his bag on his shoulder and looked at his sister, "Bonnie, You want to come?"

"Come where?" she asked blankly.

"To bring dinner of course! Let's go." He said as he walked up to the door, "You guys rest, we'll bring the dinner."

"Sounds good to me." Ash said as he sat in his bed, "But if you want, I can go in your place."

Clemont smiled, "Thank you Ash, but I can handle it."

He then walked out of the room, with his sister walking close behind.

Seeing the blonde siblings leave, Serena got up from her bed and looked at Ash. She walked up to him and sat beside him and said softly, "Ash?"

"Hmm?" he said groggily.

"Well, about hiding that incident from the train…"

"Yes? What of it?" Ash said as he got up and sat beside her.

"Thanks for not telling everyone about what happened."

"Sure. But, why don't you want the others to know about it?" he said and removed his hat, revealing his hair. "They're our friends after all. We shouldn't hide things from them."

"I know…but, I felt like telling them everything would just burden them. I didn't want that to happen. Besides, that's the past now. So can we forget about that incident?"

"You're right. We should forget about it." Ash stretched his body a little and started again, "Anyways, Serena? We should help May. She's working hard to clean that bathroom and we're here doing nothing."

"Yeah. You rest, I'll help her." Serena got out and made her way towards the bathroom.

* * *

The elevator door opened with a 'Ding' sound which signaled that it has reached the ground floor. The two siblings got out found themselves at the lobby.

Bonnie, being the energetic girl she is, trotted ahead of her brother and stood in front of the reception table and found that old woman. After moments Clemont also arrived there as he asked the lady, "Excuse me, I was wondering where we can find dinner."

The old lady laughed a little, "Oh dear, you came down all that way just for asking that? Why didn't you use the intercom? You could've just asked for room service"

Clemont face-palmed. He got out in such a hurry that he actually forgot there was an intercom…Bonnie gave him a glare.

The old woman laughed again. "Now that you two dears have come here, you can select your dinner yourselves." She then brought out a menu book and handed it to the blonde gym leader.

* * *

Serena slowly opened the door and entered the bathroom; not making much sound. As she entered, she couldn't help but to stare. The bathroom was sparkling clean.

The entire room was covered with white tiles. This and adding with the white light, gave it a very nice touch. Even the air had a fresh smell. At the corner, there was a lot of dust piled up which indicated that May had to do a good amount of work to make the bathroom the way it was looking now.

Serena looked at her left and found a bathtub with its curtains closed. She could also hear the sound of water coming from a hand-shower from inside the tub. A basket which had May's fresh clothing, also didn't go unnoticed by her. So, her guess was that May was taking a shower.

"Wow May. You did a good job with the cleaning. It's literally sparkling." She got out as she approached the bathtub. As she came near, she could now make out the silhouette of May's body inside the curtains.

"Serena is that you?" came the voice from the other side of the curtains. The sound of the water muffled her voice as she said, "And hey, thanks."

Serena was standing next to the tub. She was still admiring the good cleaning job done by the brunette. She then lazily stretched her arms and said, "Well, since you're done, I'll leave you be."

"Aww don't leave~" the brunette said in a flirty voice as her wet bare hand came out from inside the curtain and grabbed the performers arm. "Come join me~"

"Eeek!" Serena shrieked as her eyes went big in surprise. She then hastily started wriggling her arm but to no avail. She started blushing madly as she closed her eyes in embarrassment and said, "Let me go May! I don't swing that way!"

Serena's eyes were still shut as May released her arm and removed the curtains completely. She then started giggling; the giggle Serena hated so much.

Feeling curious about the giggle, Serena opened her eyes and gazed at the brunette. She was fully clothed with a scrubber in her other arm and her typical mischievous grin plastered across her face.

"What's the matter Serena? You don't like cleaning bathtubs~?"

… …. …. ….

It still took Serena some moments to process everything. But soon she understood that she just fell victim to one of the brunettes prank…And she wasn't actually amused at that.

She just glared at her. She didn't retort with any words; just glared. She then turned towards the door and stormed out of the bathroom with a very pissed off look. She glanced at Ash's bed and found him chatting with his yellow companion. Then she stormed towards Ash and stood in front of him.

Ash shifted his gaze from Pikachu and looked at the honey-blonde girl. Seeing the look on her face had convinced him that things didn't go pretty well in the bathroom. Feeling uneasy, he still mustered up the courage and asked, "Is everything alright Serena?"

The honey blonde performer took in a deep breath and stared at the boy, "Ash…I know May is your very close friend…BUT I CAN'T STAND HER!"

Jumping a little out of surprise Ash sat up firmly on his bed. "What happened?"

"She tried to sed-"the girl started but stopped immediately to find a better way to explain the story. She took a moment to think, but finding no better words to give the explanation with, she just said, "May teased me."

Ash blinked, "Umm… that's it?"

"YES That's It! But was very annoying! And you have to tell May to stop doing it."

"I do?"

"Yes you do! And now!"

Ash sighed. "Okay then…I'll go tell her. But I really hope that you two can get along. Both of you are my friends, I cannot pick sides…"

Ash then got off his bed and headed off towards the bathroom, leaving Serena and Pikachu behind.

The honey blonde girl sighed and watched Ash enter the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Her face became gloomy once again. She sat beside the boy's bed and hugged her knees. She just did the thing she never wanted to do: Make Ash sad…

"Pika?"

Hearing the rodent's voice, Serena looked at him. She saw him curiously looking at her.

"You know Pikachu; Sometimes I act really stupid…"

The yellow electric type then jumped onto her new hat and patted her, attempting to cheer her up. That partially worked as she cracked up a smile. She picked him up from her hat and held him in front of her face, "You're really sweet Pikachu, just like your trainer."

"Pika chu pikapi chuu pika!" Pikachu said with an unreadable facial expression.

"Sorry Pikachu," Serena smiled, "But unlike Ash, I cannot understand what you say."

Before Pikachu could say anything more, Serena's attention shifted towards the bathroom as she heard a female voice scream something. Shortly after, the bathroom door was suddenly shot open by a raven haired boy. Serena became puzzled when she saw Ash run out of there, May hot on his pursuit. She was shouting and saying, "YOU ARE DEAD ASH KETCHUM!"

Serena, who was still sitting beside Ash's bed, blinked and noticed May's face as she was still chasing the boy. It was looking beyond angry and her body, well, she was wearing nothing more than a towel.

It all started to make sense to her now…"Maybe when Ash went to talk with May…she was showering for real…" she thought and shook her head in frustration…"I think I just let Ash see May's naked body…"

Then suddenly something clicked her mind. "Why is she chasing him?...knowing her, she should've been happy knowing that Ash knows how her body looks."

She then smiled a little, "Guess she isn't as slutty as I thought."

… … … ….

Ash was still running and pleading for mercy. But at the moment, it looked as if there was no such word in May's dictionary… as she still kept on chasing him. Finding no other way to run, Ash ran to the balcony. But he immediately regretted doing that because he realized that he just cornered himself. He felt the night breeze rustling his raven black hair. But he certainly wasn't in the mood to enjoy that.

He leaned over the railing and looked down. Seeing how high they were up, changed his mind of escaping that way. He took in a deep breath and looked behind slowly…

The person he didn't want to see at the moment was standing right there. Her eyes were still burning bright with anger. Her one hand was curled up into a fist and her other arm was busy holding her towel in its place.

Still huffing with anger, she took one step towards him. Contemplating with it, Ash took one step back; his eyes filled with fear…

May took one step forward and Ash took one step back. This thing was going on until Ash found his back touching the railing. He knew there was no escaping now…

Doing a miserable job of acting confident, he said, "Hey May, Can we just forget everything that happened in the last 5 minutes and get something to eat?"

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

 **5 mins earlier**

* * *

Ash entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Before anything, he could smell a fresh and soothing aroma there. But he remembered why he was here. He wasn't happy doing it, but he knew he had to. He had to tell May to stop teasing Serena. He felt like a daddy who was trying to make up between his two bickering daughters…

He also couldn't help but to feel a bit disappointment. Earlier, Clemont was complaining about her. He was in fact trying to tell him something, which he planned on hearing later. And now, Serena wasn't happy with her either. He really didn't want to pick sides…

He looked to his left and saw the bathtub; curtains closed. As he further walked towards it, he could hear the sound of the hand shower. But his mind was too busy to even care about that sound.

His mind still consumed with that thought, he stood next to the bathtub. In the blink of an eye, Ash removed the curtains swiftly and said, "May, Serena told m-"

He became speechless…With what he saw behind those curtains, he almost forgot how to speak…Standing just three meters away from him was a girl who many boys relentlessly fantasize about. And she didn't have any clothes on…

Just as the curtains were removed, May froze. Her sapphire blue eyes went big and stared at the auburn ones of the person who just violated her privacy. Nobody moved a muscle. Drops of water fell from her hair, but she didn't move. Everything that was happening was still farfetched for her to believe…

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, she showed signs of movement. She still stared into his eyes and gulped and then, planned her next move. If she was in this awkward situation with any other man, then he already would've gotten a ticket to Arceus by now. But this was Ash. She knew she had to find a way to make the most of the situation…

Ignoring everything, she posed her body and winked at Ash rather seductively. She then said, "Heey Ash, like what you see?"

… … … … … …

… … … … … …

Ash was totally unfazed. He was still somewhat in shock. His current state disabled him from hearing anything. He was still gazing at her eyes. After passage of some time, the raven haired boy's curiosity got the best of him as his eyes started travelling down…

First he saw her lips. Since she was showering, they also had a moist outlook.

Next, he saw her chin as drops of water were still dipping from there. Then came her bare shoulders; reflecting a little light as they were soaked in water.

Travelling further down, he saw her perky breasts. This was something many boys of his age, dream of seeing. Many teen aged boys, spend sleepless nights, dreaming about being so close to the top coordinator's assets. And though he was just meters away from them, for some reason, he was still unfazed…

His head now tilted further down as now he could see her curvy belly. Ignoring it like everything else, his emotionless eyes travelled further below…

But the thing he saw next…startled him. His emotionless eyes were now big with surprise…His heartbeat started increasing significantly…He was panting…

"…May…?"

With an unconvinced and shaky voice, the brunette replied, "Y-Yes Ash?"

"…Where is your penis?"

… …. …. …. …. …

….. …. …. ….. ….

…The girl just silently grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her body and shouted, "YOU ARE A DEAD MAN, ASH KETCHUM!"

* * *

 **Back to reality**

* * *

"Any last words Ash?" the enraged brunette said to her victim coldly, who was still squirming to find a way to be free. Knowing that there is no way to run, Ash stood firmly and gave May such a look which was supposed to be looking proud.

"Y-You never answered my question…"

"SHUT UP IDIOT!"

The night was dark and the moon was engulfed by the clouds. However, a soft radiant beam of light, made things quite visible even in this dark night. It certainly helped Ash to see how angry May's face was looking at the moment.

"Spare me, p-pleeeaseee…"

""Fine, I will." She got out."But you have to give me one good reason why I should."

"May…think about it." The boy explained, "If you really do kill me, YOU HAVE TO GO TO JAIL…"

Hearing that, the brunette couldn't help but to smirk, "You really think I'm scared of going to jail Ash?"

"May…if you go to jail, you have to stay there…wearing the same clothes…everyday…"

… …. …. ….

…. …. …. ….

"Y-You're spared!" the brunette stuttered, all anger disappearing from her voice after hearing the boy's logic. Staying in jail wearing the same clothes everyday was something she couldn't afford to do…

"But today, I demand some answers Ash."

The boy finally breathed a sigh of relief. He can't even remember the last time he felt so nervous. Even the intense Pokémon battles he faced in his life couldn't be compared with the feeling he had today…

"Sure thing May, Ask me anything~. But don't you think you should put on some clothes first?" he said, pointing at her towel.

Fixing her towel, she said, "Nah, I'm fine. Anyway Ash, I'm going to ask some very weird questions. But answer me okay?"

"Sure."

"Okay, first question, have you ever seen a girl without clothes?"

"Ehh….no."

"I see. But don't you ever feel curious about it?"

"Ehehehe…not really."

The brunette sighed, much to the confusion of Ash."…You are in a condition worse than I anticipated."

"Wait. What?"

May sighed again, "Ash, have you…ever seen porn?"

"Porn?" Ash uttered, totally clueless about the matter, "Is that a new kind of Pokémon?"

…. …. …. ….

…. …. …. ….

May face-palmed and mumbled slowly, but loud enough for the boy to hear it, "You. Are. Hopeless."

"But…why?" he asked in a very confused tone. Nothing she was asking was making any sense to him at the moment.

Totally ignoring the boy's question, May intently looked at his clueless face. "Okay Ash. Let's ask something you know the answer of…Tell me, who am I?"

"May Maple of course!"

"Good. What am I?"

"A girl?"

"Doof! Of course I'm a girl! But what else am I?"

"A top coordinator?"

"Right. So tell me, why am I top coordinator?"

Ash smiled and said, "Because you trained very hard for this."

"Ehh…partially true. There is another reason behind it. Tell me what it is."

"Whoa. Really?" Ash got out and put his finger on his chin and started thinking, "Hmmm…what can be the other reason…" Suddenly it clicked to him, "Are you talking about me?"

"Yes Ash you. You are the biggest reason behind what I am today. You taught me most of the things I know today. How to catch a Pokémon, how to be friends with Pokémon, How to keep focus during tough times, you taught me everything." She said after a pause, "You have always been there for me like a shelter over my head Ash. You are my mentor." She ended with a smile.

"I-I…Thank you May.… But if I am the mentor, you are a very good student." He said and winked.

Hearing that, she giggled as she said, "But guess what. From today I'll be your mentor too!"

Still smiling persistently, he asked, "Sure, but what are you teaching 'mentor'?"

A small breeze blew by. They've been sitting here at the balcony for quite some time now. But for May, she wanted this time to go on forever. Despite the naïve and dumb way Ash behaved sometimes, May enjoyed his company. She always grew to love this side of him actually.

May then smiled triumphantly and said, "This mentor is going to teach you a lot of things Ash! And you know what today's first lesson is?"

The boy kept on looking at her, motioning for her to continue.

"Today I'm gonna teach you about love."

* * *

 **Eighth chapter; done and dusted.**

 **Phew. Writing a chapter is real hard work. But of course, it's fun. That's why I write (lol) Goodness, I think I did a little too much with the last part...but meh. I warned ya.**

 **Now that I'm not as busy as I was the last few months, I'll update a lot faster. But of course, longer chapters require more time to write. The chapters I published at the beginning were only 4k-5k words in size. So, I updated once a week. But still, from now, you can expect an update once in two weeks ^^**

 **All that's left to say is...If you know what's good for you, don't forget to leave a review XD**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

 **Hello and welcome to a brand new chapter of 'A Fake Mask'**

 **First, explanation why I couldn't update on time; I wrote 7k words and was almost about to finish the chapter. Then, the fire nation attacked aka, my hard disc crashed ._.**

 **So, I had to write the whole thing all over again. Just imagine writing a chapter for a second time. It might not sound like it, but it requires a lot of will power. Hope you understand why it took so long.**

 **Now that that's done, I want to give you guys a huge huge thanks. Touching that 100 review mark is an achievement all new authors dream of achieving. You guys are truly wonderful. So supportive and motivating...I just, couldn't ask for better readers (^-^) Hope you guys will keep on reviewing :]**

 **ALSO. An Edit: I changed the name of my female OC to 'Chelsea'. I'm sure none of you can remember the previous name :3**

 **So. All that's left to say is,**

 **Read, Enjoy and Review~**

* * *

The red sun lazily peeked up from the east horizon and slowly climbed up the sky. As it did, its golden rays spread lazily and lit up the Lumiose city. Some of these light rays made its way through the glass window of a hotel room and fell directly in the face of a certain raven haired boy, who was sleeping without a care. Since there weren't curtains covering the window, the sun rays didn't face much of trouble to land in the boys closed eyelids.

The sun falling directly on his face, Ash couldn't help but to groan a little in his sleep. Soon, unable to tolerate the sunlight, the boy flicked open his eyes and the first thing he saw was the rising sun through the window. In reflex, Ash used put his hand in front of his eyes as shelter from the light.

Soon, the boy shook off all the laziness and sat up in his bed. He looked to his side and found sleeping beside him was his long time yellow companion, Pikachu. As the rodent was sleeping, its body went up and down with the rhythm of its breathing.

Still a little groggy from his sleep, Ash looked around the room. The sun rays entering through his window, gave the room a dim glow. Though it wasn't very bright, the raven haired boy could make out everything around rubbing his eyes, he got off his bed. As his vision adjusted to the dim light, he saw Clemont, Bonnie and May still sleeping in their own beds. However, Serena's bed was empty.

"Serena?" the raven haired boy mumbled to himself as he looked around frantically. But he soon came to the realization that she wasn't there.

As he was still searching, the boy's eyes fell on the sleeping brunette's face. And after seeing it, the thoughts of searching for Serena disappeared completely. Memories of last night rushed back into his mind; along it, a weird feeling. He sat back in his bed. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head quite roughly, trying to shake off the thoughts.

He glanced at the brunette again. She was sleeping, but still, she had a mischievous smile running across her face. This smile had almost become a permanent feature of hers. She was sleeping, but it looked as if she was winning wars inside of her head. She was certainly not the happy go lucky girl Ash once knew.

His mind still consumed in thoughts, Ash put on his hat and blue-white sweatshirt and decided to go for a walk. He expected the walk to help clear his head. Pikachu was sleeping, so he decided not to disturb him. In fact, he tried to be extra quiet hoping that he wouldn't wake anyone up.

He put on his sneakers and silently left the hotel room, closing the door behind him. But it certainly wasn't in his knowledge that a certain brunette, pretending to be sleep was following his every step. As the boy left closing the door, her sapphire blue eyes opened and gazed at the door. She almost sprang up and sat upright in her bed. She once again started at the door and started giggling softly. Between her giggles, she mumbled, "Maybe yesterday's lesson is making him think."

* * *

The raven haired boy silently waited in the elevator until it finally hit the ground floor. When the door finally opened, he fixed his hat a little and walked out. His body was still a bit sore as he just woke up from the bed, but still, he carried on with his walk.

It was still very early in the morning, so the lobby was completely empty. Ash glanced at the reception and found it to be empty as well.

"The old lady must still be sleeping" Ash thought to himself, but deciding not to think on that anymore, Ash walked out of the hotel. As he put his first step outside of the hotel, the morning sunlight and breeze caressed his body.

It was almost as if all his soreness had disappeared completely.

He was walking. His body was feeling a lot more active, but the same couldn't be said for her mind. It was consumed. Consumed with the information he got froma certain brunette. Since it was still early morning, the street was pretty empty. Some cars and some people jogging were providing the only signs of movement in the street.

Ash had his eyes covered by his hat as she still moved step by step. Love, he always knew that a thing like that existed. But the thought that this same word could mean something so deep, surprised him. The thing which he found even more shocking was that he never noticed the deeper meaning of the word before…

Ash silently crossed a road as the memory of a certain squint eyed breeder came to his mind. He remembered seeing how Brock always went crazy over girls. But he never put any thought as to why he actually did it. His mind always believed that it was Brock being weird. But May's speech last night made him realize why the former breeder did those things.

Ash sighed and noticed that he had come quite far while walking. Realizing that it wouldn't be wise to go too further more, he turned back and started heading back to the hotel. But the things May said still clung onto his mind. The concept of love has always been around him. Throughout his long journey as a Pokemon trainer, he has encountered boys and girls who liked each other a bit more than a normal level friendship. But he always has been too blind to notice anything.

As he was heading back, his vision was attracted by something he saw happening in front of him; a boy and a girl who were in their early twenties, walking. If this was another day, the raven haired boy wouldn't even have noticed. But today, his mind wanted to find out how much the things May said were true.

Ash gazed at the couple with his auburn eyes. They were walking side by side, their bodies centimeters apart. And Ash specially noticed their hands, which were interlaced with each other. Ash blankly kept on looking as the couple walked past him.

This little thing made the poor boy even more consumed in his thoughts. He has been traveling with girls throughout his Pokemon journey. Undoubtedly, they were all wonderful friends to him. But never had he walked with anyone in a manner he just saw the couple walking…

"Were those person I just saw…in love?" He asked himself, but still couldn't find any answer. "Is this the kind of love May was talking about..I really need to ask her more…"

"Hey Ash! Wait up!" a voice came from a familiar honey-blonde girl which snapped the boy off his previous thoughts. Recognizing the voice, Ash hastily turned back and saw Serena doing a little jog to catch up with him. "What are you doing here Ash? Weren't you sleeping?"

Laughing nervously he waited for her to catch up to him. "Yeah I was sleeping, but I felt like taking a walk." Serena nodded her head in understanding as they walked side by side now. "What about you Serena? What are you doing here? I was feeling worried after finding you missing in the bed."

This time it was Serena's turn to laugh sheepishly as she couldn't help but to blush a little after hearing that Ash was being worried for her. "Well, I am here for the same reason as you; for a walk. I woke up early and thought of having a walk. Where's Pikachu?"

"He's still sleeping. So I felt that I shouldn't wake him up." The boy answered blankly. But unlike other times, he noticed the blush on her face and actually had an idea about what blushing meant. He stayed quiet however and continued walking. Serena naturally found that silence to be awkward.

It was almost as if that chat last night had completely changed the way of thinking for the sixteen year old. He started looking at everything in a different way ever since he woke up this morning. The next thing he noticed was how close he was walking next to Serena.

This reminded him of the couple he saw moments ago and how they were walking while holding hands. …he actually started comparing them with him and Serena and how they were walking. He started thinking and tilted his head a bit down and continued walking. "I am walking next to Serena…She's my really close friend…so why am I not holding her hands…" he thought.

He then glanced at Serena, who was walking without making any oral noise with an uneasy look in her face. The silence was what made her look like that. Ash however, certainly wasn't in the mood to be concerned about that as he still continued with his mental thoughts.

"Maybe the love I have for Serena isn't the love May was talking about…or…maybe it is?" Ash suddenly felt his heartbeat increasing. Along with it came a nervous feeling. He looked at Serena's face. She was looking straight on ahead, not making much sound. Ash gulped and looked at her hand, swinging with the rhythm of her walking.

Feeling nervous than ever, he slowly extended his hand towards her's in an attempt of touching it. Time was going slow for him as he could hear his heart beat as his hand inched closer to hers. But when it was almost about to touch, he pulled it away and…actually for once, Ash blushed.

Serena was quick to notice the boy's unusual movements as she quickly looked at him, stopping their walk. "Everything okay Ash? What happened?"

The raven haired boy mentally sighed in relief after hearing her say that. The thought that the performer didn't get to know what he was doing, calmed him down. But he was still blushing, and a person needed to be blind not to notice that. "Ash? Why are you blus-"

She was cut off by Ash's outburst, "It's nothing! I'm feeling sick! need more fresh air is all!"

Serena couldn't help but blink after hearing that. She remembered doing the same thing multiple times before when she blushed. But of course she knew that it was Ash, and him blushing over anything was far-fetched for her to believe. But little did she know that her crush was actually blushing for the right reason this time around.

"S-Serena! You go on a-ahead and get ready! I'll catch up with you." He stuttered, which was making the honey-blonde performer even more curious. But she still believed in the thought that ash just needed some fresh air. So, she nodded and said, "Alright Ash. I'll go on ahead. Don't take too long."

Watching Ash nod back, Serena started walking back to the hotel while the mentally confused raven haired boy stood there. Still standing, Ash eyed Serena as she walked away further down the crowd less street.

As she walked…the curious eyes of the raven haired boy traveled down to her jingly bottom side. Ash immediately clasped his mouth and blamed May for the following sentence that escaped his mouth…

"Serena has a nice butt."

* * *

Meanwhile in the train station, a certain raven haired girl could be seen. She was never known to be a very lively girl as she was almost motionlessly sitting in a sofa. It was indeed the same station through which Ash and Serena reached West Lumiose.

She took out her phone from her black jeans pocket, checked the time and shoved it right back where it was. Still sitting on the lobby sofa, she looked around with her red-ruby eyes. Though it was very early in the morning, there were quite a few people present there.

The train from Central Lumiose was going to come soon. So the people present there, were waiting to greet their friends and family with a warm welcome. She hated crowdy places. But she knew it couldn't be helped at the moment. She had to greet her brother. So as much as uncomfortable she was feeling being around all that people, she knew she didn't have much of a choice to do otherwise.

She tilted her head further downwards, allowing her hair to cover her eyes. She couldn't leave the station...so she was aware of the fact that there wasn't a way open to her by which she could get away from the crowd. So she thought that covering her eyes and ignoring eye contact with everyone might help her. And the small smile she had on her face later clarified that it was working.

"That takes care of one problem…but what about that…" she slowly mumbled and tried to ignore the noise the people were making. She actually tried to plug her ears with her fingers in an attempt to escape the noise, but to no avail.

She was trying to find more ways to escape the noise, but after a certain amount of time, another sound reached her ears. And that sound, instead of driving her angry, made her sigh in relief. It was the announcement that the train has arrived in the small smile curving in her face, made it clear that she was waiting for that.

She got up from her seat and skidded towards where the train had stopped. She tried to make her way towards the train platform where she hoped to find her brother. But between her and her destination, was small crowd of people who were gathered there with similar motives.

She tried to push through the crowd. For a girl who preferred isolation over anything else, this was a very hard thing to do. She found it even more problematic because of her height; which was less compared to a regular sixteen year old. Soon after passage of time, she finally made it near the train entrance from where the people were coming out. It was no secret that it was quite a struggle for her to get there. It also goes without saying that she had to kick and punch some people in sensitive places to get room for movement…

Leaving the experience of this short journey behind her, the ruby colored eyes of the girl intently looked at the train entrance, from where passengers were coming out. Soon enough, the person she was waiting for, came into sight.

* * *

The silver haired boy, Brendan came out of the train and tried to spot her sister out of the crowd. In his one hand was a briefcase, and in the other was a half eaten apple. Soon, his eyes met with the red-ruby eyes of his sister. He immediately raised his hand and started waving it; his sister also doing the same, but with a little less energy.

Brendan got off the platform and dug into the crowd of people. He brought the apple near his mouth and bit it, holding it firmly with his teeth. Now with his free hand, he grabbed his sister's wrist and pulled her out of the crowd. Then without having much conversation, the two siblings reached the sofa where the girl was sitting before.

Brendan again took the apple in his hand and gave a big sigh in relief, "Pheww…That was tiring." He then looked at her sister, "So Chelsea! How've you been sis?"

The raven haired girl, Chelsea formed a small smile in her pretty face, "Lonely, but good. But now that you're here, I'm much better."

"Sorry for leaving you tho…you know I had to."

"Yes I know." Chelsea nodded and smiled again, "I presume that's the reason?" she said, pointing at the briefcase placed beside her brother."

Patting at the case he said, "You know it."

Chelsea ran her hand through her long hair and sighed, "I still can't believe he's paying us so much for doing just that. I know we've talked about it before. But still…something just smells fishy."

Brendan blankly looked at his sister and said, "Chelsea, look at me."

Accordingly, she did that and looked straight into the boy's eyes. Brandon started talking, "We are mercenaries. We only do what we're paid to do. We never judge the work, we just do it."

The raven haired girl sighed and looked back at her brother, "You're absolutely right." She got out, her voice a bit more serious.

"Good." He said as he stretched his arms a bit. "So, what's the status of our target?"

"At the moment she's in a hotel room her group rented. Their objective is to catch the ferry at the dock exactly four hours from now."

"Excellent. I believe we have plenty of time in our hands to catch up to them~. Wanna grab something to drink in the meantime?"

Chelsea wasn't impressed. She crouched her eyebrows and looked at her brother, "Just in case you've forgotten, we should always put our duties above anything else."

Saying that, she huffed a little and stormed off towards the exit of the train station, leaving her brother behind.

"Well, that's Chelsea for ya. Always taking the work seriously~." He laughed to himself and started jogging in an attempt of catching up to her sister. But after just a little run, she saw her sister. She was energetically walking before…but now, she was just standing and staring at something.

Brendan followed her gaze and found where she was staring. He saw a family reuniting at the train station. The father was hugging his son and daughter. And after seeing it, Chelsea was almost grunting in anger. She was usually known to be a calm girl who didn't like to show any emotion. But that certainly wasn't the case now.

And honestly, Brendan didn't find that surprising. He perfectly knew why his sister was acting like this. He was aware of the reasons. He just stood beside his sister and started speaking slowly, "Chelsea…Calm down."

"CALM DOWN?" she shot back, "Why should I calm down? Look at them! Why should they get something we didn't get?"

"Please sister…" He said softly, which caused the girl to calm down as well. "All people aren't born in the same way you know. Some are born lucky, and some are not. Those who don't get the privilege of being born that way must make their own luck. And that's exactly what we're doing; making our own luck."

"You're right Brendan. I'm sorry." She said slowly, but her voice lacked much emotion.

"C'mon now, we're mercenaries. But that doesn't mean we can't have emotion. Cry when you're sad Chelsea. Makes it easier. But don't let that emotion affect you in your work."

"I'm sorry Brendan, crying is a luxury I can't afford to have in my life." She just blankly said.

Brendan couldn't help but to sigh after hearing that. "Let's go Chelsea. I think you really do need a glass of lemonade…"

* * *

"Hey guys? When is our ship scheduled to leave?" a certain blonde haired gym leader asked nobody in particular as he fixed his glasses a little. The silence that followed after the question made it clear that his four other friends weren't certain of the answer. Serena however, pulled out her trusty Poke gear and started searching. Moments later, her face beamed as she said, "The S.S. Anne will leave in exactly two hours from now. So we have plenty of time."

Hearing that, the slight hint of worry which was presiding in everyone's mind, withered away.

The group was making their way towards the dock. Earlier the morning, nothing much eventful happened. Ash and Serena got back from their walk and found the others awake. They packed their bags and had breakfast there. The only difference was that, unlike other times, Ash was being rather quiet and consumed with something.

Though the others were being worried about that unusual event, a certain brunette had the perfect idea as to why he was being like this. May even noticed Ash trying to talk to her in private, but didn't get the chance to do so. May got Ash thinking, so a proud feeling was working inside of her. She had done something which many people have failed to do over the years. So she had perfect reason to be proud.

But still, she had a hard time believing that the behavior of this thick headed boy changed so much just after one nights lecture.

Though it was hard to believe, she couldn't ignore what she was seeing. She was still a bit surprised, but she was happy the way things turned out. Ash might've been acting a bit weird, but the brunette was confident that he will turn back to normal. Things he learnt yesterday were indeed not an easy task to take in.

But after seeing Ash's current state of behavior, May actually started thinking of herself as an excellent teacher!

Even now the raven haired boy wasn't talking much. He seemed a bit interested to know when their ship would leave. But after his curiosity got met, he got quiet again. Pikachu sitting on his shoulder tried poking him on his cheek, but surprisingly, it got no response from his trainer. The raven haired boy just kept on walking, his gaze firmly stuck on the ground.

Even his other three kalos friends couldn't help but to notice that. It wasn't like Ash to ignore Pikcahu like that. Serena especially found that to be strange as she mumbled to herself, "He's been acting like this since last night…"

May was quick to notice the awkward tension building up in the group. She knew that if she didn't step in, Serena or Clemont might start to enquire the boy. So, she asked a question of out the blue, shifting everyone's attention from Ash. "I forgot, what's the name of the place we're going again?"

Bonnie was the first to respond to that, "I'm sure most people reading the story have forgotten the name too!" She said and broke out in giggles. Hearing that, the others couldn't help but to crack up smiles too, Ash included. They knew the girl was saying the truth.

Clemont coughed a little and shook of the smile. With a hint of seriousness in his voice, he said, 'As Sophie said, we're going to Navadip Island."

"Oh yes." Serena said and snapped her fingers. "Navadip Island. I remember now."

"Yup, can't wait to get my Mega-stone." May chimed in. She was once again feeling proud inside. Her mission of shifting everyone's gaze from Ash had worked. She was almost as if she became a being who succeeds in every mission she participates. But she was also well aware of the fact that until he wins the heart of the boy she adores, her war is far from being over.

The rest of the trip went pretty quietly for the friends. Ash was always the heart of their gossips between their travels. But now with him being quiet, the journey through the shopping district towards the dock went pretty quiet. May was the one who occasionally brought up topics to talk about in order to keep others from noticing too much of Ash's sudden behavioral change.

After some more walking, the group eventually reached the docks. But glancing at the watch, May noticed that they still had time to kill. They walked a little further and now the S.S. Anne could be seen on the horizon.

The thoughts of getting on that ship made the brunette beam in happiness. She started thinking about the wonderful services she might get through their voyage. She has always been a travel lover. This is the one thing that hasn't changed about her over the years.

But cutting her daydreaming, Bonnie spoke up.

"Uhh... what's going on there guys?" she said, pointing at a specific direction. Looking at the pointed way, the group could see some people gathered around something. The sounds of cheering were also heard.

"I think we should check it out!" Ash got out, which was something he uttered after a considerable amount of time. "C'mon guys!" he said and sprinted towards the crowd; Bonnie, Serena and Clemont, doing the same. And it goes without saying that Clemont wasn't doing a very good job.

May glanced at the ship one more time and sighed, "Oh well, you have to wait." Saying that, she made her way towards the crowd.

Ash advanced forward and came closer to the crowd. As he approached, the cheering of the people became more blatant to him. Being curious even more, he pushed his way through the crowd and finally got a glimpse of what the others were seeing.

And seeing it, Ash couldn't help but to get excited as well. He was almost screaming inside in excitement. Pikachu, in an attempt of getting a better view, climbed on the raven haired boy's head. And just like its trainer, excitement filled his eyes. But the rodent also didn't fail to pick up the energy coursing through Ash.

And, the electric mouse felt happy! Considering that his trainer has been gloomy all day, this sudden energetic stance he had now, was certainly a welcome change.

May and the others soon caught up to him. Clemont was expectedly panting for air, to which Bonnie sighed. Serena was trying to get a better view of the thing everyone was looking at.

The brunette meanwhile hastily made her way through the crowd and noticed Ash's face. Seeing him all excited, made her smile. But soon she came to the realization that Ash wasn't thinking about yesterday's lesson. But she let it be for the time being and followed his gaze and found out what he was looking at.

It was a training ground where two figures, a boy and a girl were standing on the side opposite to where she was standing. And just in front of her, were standing two girls with tension evident in their faces. And the fact that there were Pokemon in front of them, clarified that they were having a tag-team pokemon battle.

The brunette looked back at Ash and giggled. She now perfectly understood why he was being so excited. "Something's never change." She giggled some more and shifted her attention back to the battle field. But as she did, the first thing that caught her eye was a Nidoking and a Mamoswine falling roughly to the ground, fainting. And seeing the disappointed looks of the girls standing in front of her, it wasn't difficult for the brunette to guess whom these Pokemon belonged to.

It goes without saying that the crowd found immense pleasure from it as they roared in cheers. May found the cheering a bit annoying at first, but then some crowd gossip immediately caught her attention.

"Ya know. These two have been fighting here for an hour now. And they're still undefeated." Two random people spoke, which May heard. She noticed Serena and the two siblings pushing through the crowd and approaching her. But still being interested in what she heard moments ago, May looked back at the field and eyed the two figures.

There she saw, a tall boy with grey hair and a beautiful short girl with long raven black hair. They seemed pretty normal people, but the looks on their faces, gave a mysterious aura around them. The boy had an eerie smirk plastered across his face while the girl had a stern emotionless outlook.

"Hey May, what's going on here?" Serena popped up from behind and asked her, forgetting the incident last night. The same couldn't be said about the brunette as she found it awkward that she could forget something so easily. However, deciding not to tense up the atmosphere, she said, "Oh, they're having a Pokemon battle."

Saying nothing more, she returned her gaze towards the battle field. As she did, she could also hear Ash almost squeal in excitement, standing at her side. Obviously, she found that to be pretty cute.

Clemont meanwhile finally made his way in front of the battle field. Having worked hard made his way pushing through the crowd, he was already feeling tired. He looked down and saw her sister glaring at him. He sighed and lazily glanced towards the battle field but with what he saw, his eyes went big in excitement after seeing a certain raven haired girl standing there. He only mumbled, "It's her..."

* * *

Brendan grinned and watched their opponent leave the battle field. With satisfaction evident on his face, he looked to his side and saw his sister standing there with no sort of emotion whatsoever. However, he knew her. She was his sister after all. So he had no trouble understanding that even though Chelsea was just standing there, she was satisfied too.

Sure they had a tough battle. Defeating a Nidoking and a Mamoswine is never an easy job. But it certainly wasn't something Brendan's Swampert and Chelsea's Aggron couldn't handle. Recalling his Swampert, Brendan took a look around. All he could see was masses of people cheering after seeing their battle.

However, one certain brunette girl caught his eyes instantly. He has been shown a picture of the girl. So without any doubts, he came to the conclusion that she was the girl they were looking for. Brendan nudged his sister slightly and still grining, he whispered, "Guess what Chelsea. Your plan of luring her in by arranging a Pokemon battle worked."

Hearing that, a small smile curved in her beautiful face, "Of course it worked. It was my plan after all."

The silver haired boy closed his eyes and smirked a little hearing what her sister just said. He actually expected an answer like that. He then opened his eyes, faced the crowd and started speaking a little loudly, "Any people confident enough to think that you have what it takes to beat us, step forward."

The first person who reacted after hearing that was none other than Ash. It wasn't much of a surprise actually. He stepped in and got in battle field with that same confident smile he always has during a battle. And it was no secret that the female section of the crowd found that smile to be sexy.

Clemont was still busy eyeing Chelsea, as memories of that day when he ran with her from the thugs gushed into his mind. So he only half noticed that Ash was in the field.

Serena, May and Bonnie were startled after seeing the boy walk in the field like that. But inside, none of them were surprised that much. May however took notice that Ash's previous state of thinking had completely disappeared. She frowned a bit, but thought that she should let it go for the time being. And one more thing that both she and Serena didn't fail to notice was the way the girls were reacting after seeing their boy...

* * *

Brendan looked across the field and saw a raven haired boy with a Pikachu on his shoulder making his way towards the trainer's stand. Keeping his eye firm on the boy, Brendan whispered, "Chelsea, that's May's friend right?"

"From what I've seen so far, calling him May's boy toy wouldn't be lying."

The silver haired boy somehow managed not to laugh out loud after hearing that. He always found these certain remarks of his sister to be funny. This time it wasn't an exception either. He flicked his silver hair, which dazzled slightly due to the sun's reflection.

"Yo dude, Brendan's the name." He said grinning at Ash. He then motioned towards his sister and said, "And this here's my sister, Chelsea."

The red eyed girl just looked at a different direction, not even uttering a single word. Sweat dropping at his sister's behavior, Brendan said, "Sorry about that... So anyway, you think you can defeat us?"

Ash fixed his cap and smirked back, "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet town and I don't 'think' I can defeat you… I'm sure I can!"

The girls in the crowd reacted much more than they should've after hearing him say that. Not caring for that, Brendan started speaking again, "Excellent. I enjoy battling confident people. So, we are having a tag team battle here. Choose your partner."

Chelsea looked at the crowd herself to identify where the brunette was standing. But what she became aware of instead was that a blonde haired spectacled gym leader looking back at her. When their eyes met, he got startled and looked at the ground, a deep blush forming in his face.

Chelsea sighed, mostly in disgust and looked at a different direction and just mumbled, "Idiot."

"Tag battle, huh?" Ash said to himself and looked to his friends with only one word in mind, "May, wanna battle?"

Without second thoughts, May walked up to the battle field while saying, "It would be my pleasure, Ash." She swiftly turned her head back to the crowd and faced a certain honey-blonde girl and… stuck her tongue out at her. She then hastily turned back to Ash and gave him a sweet smile.

The honey-blonde girl just huffed and turned the other way. She wasn't too upset that Ash didn't call her. She was an understanding girl. She knew that battling alongside an old friend was the only reason for calling her.

Brendan saw May come up the field and smiled in satisfaction. Everything was going just as he had planned. He then started speaking a bit more loudly, imitating a referee, "This will be a tag battle between Brendan and Chelsea facing against Ash and…?" he stopped, motioning at the brunette. Even though he knew her name all too well, he used his acting skills to avoid making anything obvious.

"I'm May; May Maple."

… … …

Hearing May call out her name, a portion of the crowd became totally silent for a second, and then burst out in cheers. It wasn't required to be a rocket scientist to tell that the said portion of the crowd were contest fans.

"Omigosh omigosh omigosh! Look! It's really May Maple! And she's standing with that cutie! Omigosh! I think he's her boyfriend!" was the summary of what the crowd was gossiping about. And it was no big secret that Serena wanted to shove their heads in a dustbin for saying that.

Brendan meanwhile continued, "…facing against Ash and May! The battle will end when both Pokemon from either side are unable to battle." He paused for a moment then again said,

"Let the battle begin!"

* * *

 **Ninth chapter; done and dusted.**

 **I personally think this chapter is a bit rusty compared to the others...but meh, I told you the reason already. A thing about last chapter I forgot to mention was the thing about Drew's Scar. There is a history behind it which I'll of course reveal in time. Just giving you a reminder that I actually included that.**

 **And just something I want to inform you guys about: I have almost all of the story planned out. So there isn't any reason for me to leave this story incomplete. So if I ever stop updating for a month or so, don't worry. I'll update.**

 **Even if I ever take a decision of not completing this story, trust me, I'll let you guys know. I hope that day won't come tho. And if it just so happens that I didn't update for a year or so without notice, the only reason will be I'm dead. :)**

 **Also, if you have any suggestions by which I can improve the story, don't hesitate to tell me. I'm always looking for improvement as a writer. So, any suggestions are welcome.**

 **Lastly, If you know what's good for you, don't forget to leave a review. ^-^**


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